Over-reliance on Psychiatric Medication in Children: A Pediatrician's View

Over-reliance on Psychiatric Medication in Children: A Pediatrician's View

This weekend I was scheduled to speak at a conference in LA sponsored by the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry entitled "Alternatives to Biological Psychiatry." Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, I was unable to attend. As I had already prepared my talk, I decided to translate it into a blog post.

Federal Government Wants To Test Anthrax Vaccine On Children

Terrorists could use the potentially deadly Anthrax bacteria on an attack against the United States, and there is plenty of vaccine stockpiled for use against this and other possible biological agents of warfare. However they have never been tested on children so the effectiveness and possible side effects of the vaccines are unknown in children.

Federal Government Wants To Test Anthrax Vaccine On Children

The Diagnosing and Drugging of 'ADHD' Children -- An American Tragedy Worsens

The Diagnosing and Drugging of 'ADHD' Children -- An American Tragedy Worsens

The diagnosing of millions of children with ADHD in order to medicate them with stimulants and other psychoactive chemicals is an American tragedy, growing into a worldwide catastrophe. Never before in history has a society attempted to deal with its children by drugging a significant portion of them into conformity while failing to meet their needs in the home, school and society. The ethical scientist or physician, the concerned parent or teacher, must feel stricken with grief and dumbfounded that we have allowed the interests of powerful advocacy groups to completely override the interests of our children.

Report Finds Parent Training Effective for Treating Young Children With ADHD

Formal training in parenting strategies is a low-risk, effective method for improving behavior in preschool-age children at risk for developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while there is less evidence supporting the use of medications for children younger than 6 years old, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Report Finds Parent Training Effective for Treating Young Children With ADHD

Labeling tantrums a mental illness doesn't help

Dr. Claudia M. Gold is a pediatrician and author of "Keeping Your Child in Mind: Overcoming Defiance, Tantrums and Other Everyday Behavior Problems by Seeing the World Through Your Child's Eyes."

Labeling tantrums a mental illness doesn't help

Maine doctor protests national anthrax testing on children

The Obama administration is wrestling with the thorny question of whether scientists should inject healthy children with the anthrax vaccine to see whether the shots would safely protect them against a bioterrorism attack.

Maine doctor protests national anthrax testing on children

CDC Panel May Push HPV Vaccine for Boys

CDC Panel May Push HPV Vaccine for Boys

A committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to decide today whether to recommend routinely vaccinating boys and young men against sexually transmitted forms of human papillomavirus, the cause of most cervical and anal cancers as well as most mouth and throat cancers.

We are drugging our children for being children

Re: New rules drop age for use of Ritalin-type drugs, Oct. 17

These new guidelines issued to doctors for prescribing psychostimulant drugs to children as young as four are a step in the wrong direction.

We are drugging our children for being children

More Than One in Ten Americans Take an Antidepressant

11% of Americans aged 12 and up now take an antidepressant medication, though less than one third of them have seen a mental-health professional in the past year.

More Than One in Ten Americans Take an Antidepressant

Stephen Cook asks 'Are Psychotropic Drugs Killing our Kids?'

There is an issue of utmost urgency, to which I would like to draw your attention and invite you to look into it. It concerns the psychiatric drugging of our children.

Stephen Cook asks 'Are Psychotropic Drugs Killing our Kids?'

The Kids Mental-Health Crisis

With psychiatric and mood disorders in children a national concern, early detection and treatment can prevent deadly tragedies like the Arizona shooting, but there’s a startling lack of awareness, says Alizah Salario.

The Kids Mental-Health Crisis

Recent Trends in Stimulant Medication Use Among U.S. Children

A study, Recent Trends in Stimulant Medication Use Among US Children finds, surprisingly, that 3.5% of kids under 18 got stimulants, vs. 2.4% in 1996. Holy crap!! The reason this is surprising is that 3.5% is about 10x smaller than I thought it was. American Journal of Psychiatry? Did I move to Romania?

Recent Trends in Stimulant Medication Use Among U.S. Children

New ADHD guidelines: Kids as young as 4 can be diagnosed

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can now be diagnosed in children as young as 4 and as old as 18, according to the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.

New ADHD guidelines: Kids as young as 4 can be diagnosed

Brown signs bill letting CA minors get STD vaccine

Gov. Jerry Brown has waded into the national debate over child vaccinations for sexually transmitted diseases, signing into law a bill allowing children as young as 12 to get vaccinated without their parents' consent.

Brown signs bill letting CA minors get STD vaccine

Shy children now candidates for dangerous psychiatric drugs

New guidelines for mental illness turn shyness in children from a personality trait into a mental disorder that warrants drug treatment. Drug companies already target children, who fidget too much in class or have trouble concentrating on their homework, with stimulant drugs for treating attention deficit disorder. Now children who sit too quietly or are more withdrawn than their peers will also be targeted with medication for social anxiety disorder or depression.

Shy children now candidates for dangerous psychiatric drugs

Calming your child's ADHD symptoms

Five-year-old Max came to see me in my pediatrics practice because his kindergarten teachers were convinced that he had ADHD. They knew little about his life, yet they were pressuring his mother, Alice, to come to me in the hopes that I would prescribe medication, because his behavior in class was increasingly disruptive. Alice came to the first visit armed with the standard forms, indicating that he had scored in the high range for ADHD.

Calming your child's ADHD symptoms

Judge Agrees Prozac Could Have Made Teen a Killer

The headline from the Winnipeg Free Press in Canada tells the story: "Judge Says Prozac Factor in Teen Murder." Provincial court judge Robert Heinrich listened to my testimony as a psychiatric expert on behalf of the defense and weighed it against that of a Canadian psychiatrist brought in by the prosecution.

Judge Agrees Prozac Could Have Made Teen a Killer

ADHD: Are we over-drugging our kids?

From 1996 to 2008, the number of kids being prescribed anti-ADHD drugs such as Adderall rose by roughly 30 percent

ADHD: Are we over-drugging our kids?