Could Anesthesia Be Harming Children?
-Scientific American visits the question of whether exposure to anesthesia during early childhood can lead to cognitive or behavioral problems later in life.
Researcher: Antidepressants Protect Against Brain Shrinkage, Despite Our Findings
A Molecular Psychiatry study found that people who had recurrent depression developed smaller hippocampi and antidepressants protected against that effect -- except insofar as the study evidence seemed to show the opposite of what the media reported on it.
Many Physicians Don’t Understand Key Facts about Prescription Opioid Addictions
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey of 1000 US primary care physicians found that many do not understand basic medical facts about the addictive nature of the opioids they are prescribing.
Antipsychotics Too Often Used to Dampen Aggression in Kids, Not Treat Psychosis
Antipsychotics appear to be too often prescribed to curb aggressive impulses in children and youth, rather than to treat psychosis or any other clinically indicated conditions.
Transpersonal Therapists Examine Ketamine-For-Depression Questions
-The most recent issue of the The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies examines the promises and risks associated with mainstream psychiatry's growing interest in ketamine for the treatment of depression.
Antidepressant-linked Suicide Data Doctored In Seminal Study
Several years after the information was first revealed, a published study has shown how an influential NIMH study doctored the real data about antidepressants and suicidal events in youth.
Antipsychotic Dose Reduction Linked To Long-term Improvements In First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients
Careful reductions in dosage levels of antipsychotic medications over time improved long-term rates of recovery and functional remission in patients diagnosed with a first-episode psychosis.
Would Finding A Biomarker For ADHD Actually Help Anyone?
-Psychiatrists Ilina Singh and Simon Wessely ask if it would be ethically right to treat a child for ADHD, even if it were possible to definitively identify a biomarker for ADHD.
No Treatments Have “Clinically Meaningful” Impacts On Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
While most treatments have had "statistically significant" success in clinical trials, no common psychiatric or psychological treatments improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia at levels that are "clinically meaningful."
Pennsylvania Latest State To Try To Curb Psychotropic Prescribing To Foster Children
Foster children in Pennsylvania are being given psychotropic drugs by physicians at rates that are "disturbing" and "unacceptable," according to the state's Department of Human Services.
One-quarter of Ohio-area Children With Down Syndrome Are Being Prescribed Psychotropics
The odds of a child with Downs Syndrome being on a psychotropic medication increase steadily with age.
Many Teens Start Misusing Stimulants By Age 13
An equal percentage of young people will start misusing ADHD-related and other stimulant drugs for the first time at age 13 as will start at age 20.
“Poverty Shapes How Children Think About Themselves”
-Children's ways of thinking and feeling are being strongly shaped and delimited, as early as the age of five, through the imposition of social categories and stereotypes.
Teen Brain Develops Differently in Bipolar Disorder, When Medicated
The brains of adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder develop differently than the brains of teens without the disorder, according to a study in Biological...
Mental Health Providers with “Understanding of Aboriginal Approaches” Wanted
-"Aboriginal youth are nine times more likely to be depressed and three times more likely to think about suicide compared to non-aboriginal youth."
Depression During Pregnancy, Unhealthy Diet, and Child Emotional Dysregulation
One reason that depression is linked to later psychological problems in children could be because depressed mothers often have less healthy diets.
3 Facts All Parents Should Know About ADHD Stimulant Drugs
Medicating children for a host of mental disorders has become very popular in some parts of the USA. More than 8 million kids from 6 months to 17 years of age are on pharmaceutical drugs in this wonderful country. We lead the world in drugging youth for behavioral, cognitive and attention issues. We are once again #1. But I would like to share with parents as well as adults working with children a few not so readily available facts related to medicating kids for behavior issues.
Too Many Parents Don’t “Understand Their Role” in Getting Children Diagnosed
-"Temper, Anxiety, Homework Trouble Are Medical Issues? Many Parents Donāt Realize It," stated a University of Michigan press release and survey report.
Children’s Positive Responses to Antidepressants “Minimal” After Four Weeks
Children's positive responses to SSRI antidepressant treatments for depression are even less significant than adult responses, and do not last beyond four weeks.
Researchers Gain Insight into Stimulant Effects on Brain
Researchers believe that they have gained a clearer understanding of how cocaine, amphetamines and related psychostimulant drugs "disrupt the normal functioning of the dopamine transporter in the brain."
Environmental Neurotoxins and Autism
-A discussion of some of the links that have been found between neurotoxins polluting the environment and higher risks of developing autistic symptoms.
A Review of Issues Surrounding Marijuana and Madness
-What does the balance of evidence say about the relationship between cannabis use and increased risk of psychotic reactions?
Most Preschoolers with ADHD Stay on Meds for Years
About 65% of preschool children who were diagnosed with ADHD and given stimulant drugs were still taking those drugs six years later.
“Does Artificial Food Coloring Contribute to ADHD in Children?”
-Scientific American reviews scientific understanding surrounding the apparent influences of common food colorings on hyperactivity in children.
“Breaking the Silence: How I Conquered Selective Mutism”
-Danica Cotov discusses her many and varied efforts to deal with selective mutism throughout her childhood and teen years.
