This Common ADHD Medication Could Pose Heart Risks for Some Kids

Ritalin, a popular drug for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), might increase the risk of an abnormal heart rhythm shortly after a young person starts taking it, a new study suggests.

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Antipsychotic drug use linked to autism risk

The side effects of antipsychotics can be quite problematic and researchers have found that the proportion of adolescents with autism or intellectual disability has increased among youths treated with these medications.

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Does Your Child Have ‘ADHD’? It Might Depend On Your Doctor

A study published in the journal Pediatrics reveals large differences from one pediatrician to the next when it comes to diagnosing and prescribing drugs for ‘ADHD.’ The researchers found that the percentage of children being diagnosed with ‘ADHD’ varied from as high as 16% of patients at some offices to as little as 1% of patients at others. The data also revealed significant but lower variability in the pediatric diagnosis of anxiety and depression.

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Here’s why states want to make it tough to skip childhood vaccines

When Jennifer Stella’s two children were babies, she made sure they got all the usual vaccines. But when one started having seizures and the other developed eczema after they’d gotten immunizations, the Vermont woman decided her kids would no longer get shots required to attend school.

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A Broken System: Rhode Island Mental Health Treatment for Children

Until last spring, his fits were mostly contained within his home. A hole in the hallway wall proves it. But one fair day last April, his aggression went public.

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Care for children with mental health problems is woeful, say GPs

Family doctors have condemned NHS care for children with mental health problems as woefully inadequate and warned that vulnerable young people are coming to harm during waits of up to a year for specialist help.

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Stop drugging ADHD kids — and start teaching them to use their gifts

This year, Americans will spend more than $8 billion on members of the stimulant family, in a desperate attempt to keep squirmy school kids with ADHD glued to their chairs — or sometimes, even their kindergarten rugs.

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CCHR to Protest the Electroshocking of Children in Atlanta at the American Psychiatric Convention

In response to the American Psychiatric Associations calling on the FDA to allow the electroshocking of children who don't respond to "treatment" (drugs), CCHR is holding a protest at the annual American Psychiatric Association convention in downtown Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, May 14, 2016. Anyone interested in joining the protest can sign up on the Facebook event page. The protestors will meet up at 10:30 am at the north end of Woodruff Park to start the march.

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CCHR Working to Restore Parental Rights and Prevent Abuse of the Baker Act

The mental health law in Florida, commonly known as the Baker Act, allows children to be involuntarily committed from school and sent for psychiatric evaluation. This is supposed to happen if it is believed the child has a mental illness and could be a serious threat to themselves or others.

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5 things every parent needs to know about ADHD

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks at the best way to treat young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, also known as ADHD. The new studies provide strong evidence that not only is behavior therapy effective and it works without the side effects of medication —it's the better first step.

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Studies find drugs prescribed inappropriately

In unrelated studies released Tuesday, the agency found that nearly a third of antibiotics were prescribed needlessly, potentially feeding resistance to those drugs, and that very young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder who should have been referred first for behavioral therapy might have instead been placed on medication, with unknown long-term consequences.

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Egan: Mom battles to give daughter medical cannabis, fends off police, CAS

Motivated by love and desperation, an area mother is fighting an uphill battle to treat her daughter’s chronic illness with a special cannabis oil.

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Government allegedly takes autistic Perth boy from family after medication fight

A long battle over medical care for a young Perth boy with autism has allegedly resulted in the government removing him and his sister from the foster mother who has cared for them for seven years.

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Stop giving bullied children anti-depressants, warns Government adviser

Britain’s child mental health crisis is far worse than most people realise and we risk "medicalising childhood" through botched attempts to address the problem, the Government’s mental health champion for schools has said.

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Kids With ADHD Do Better With Therapy First, Study Finds

When their son Christian got tossed out of kindergarten because of his impulsivity and hyperactivity, Laura and Adolfo Siclari knew they needed to do something.

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Why are children being prescribed more psychiatric and serious medications than ever before?

New studies suggest more children than ever are being prescribed psychiatric drugs and other serious medications.

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Concern over 'extremely dangerous' untrained therapists putting vulnerable clients at risk

Counsellors have expressed “huge concern” that untrained therapists are breaking professional boundaries, putting vulnerable clients at risk and could even induce a nervous breakdown.

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Family Court orders chemotherapy to be administered to a 6 year old against parents’ wishes

This case illustrates how the Family Court will take the best interests of a child into account in making its decisions. This is the case even when both parents are united in their wishes for their child.

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Drugging Our Kids: Foster care bill targets excessive prescribing of psychiatric drugs

The voices of foster youth and their advocates overcame the powerful physicians lobby in the Capitol on Monday, as a bill to identify and investigate California doctors who overprescribe psychiatric drugs to traumatized foster children won a key Senate vote.

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CCHR Educates Over 7,000 Families on How to Protect Their Children from Involuntary Commitment in Florida

Participating in dozens of family orientated events, CCHR is on a crusade to stop the involuntary commitment of children in Florida without parental consent or knowledge.

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