May 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 5
May is Mental Health Month, a time to re-emphasize mental health screenings and patient education about mental health issues. The observance is sponsored by the National Mental Health Association, one of the cooperating partners for the Academy's Annual Clinical Focus, Mental Health 2000.
Too many kids on Ritalin?
The number of young children on Ritalin, Prozac and other psychotropic drugs is skyrocketing.
Some parents come to physicians and say they want their kids on Ritalin before the children have even been evaluated, AAFP Board Chair Lanny Copeland, M.D., said at a White House meeting and press event March 20. The parents have often talked with teachers who said they thought the child would benefit from the medicine, he added.
While many youngsters benefit from psychotropic drugs, others may simply need attention and an outlet for their enthusiasm."It would be like somebody coming in at the age of 30 and saying, 'I have chest pains, I'd like to have coronary artery bypass surgery,'" said Copeland, who practices in Albany, Ga. He also said psychotropic drugs are an important part of the treatment of children with serious behavioral problems.
The March 21 New York Times and National Public Radio reported Copeland's comments.
The meeting kicked off an initiative that will feature a fall conference on the diagnosis and treatment of children with mental and emotional disorders. One goal: to build parent-teacher-physician teamwork in meeting children's needs, with or without psychotropics.
"We are not here to bash the use of these drugs," said Hillary Rodham Clinton, who chaired the March 20 meeting. "They have literally been a godsend for countless adults and young people with behavioral and emotional problems." But she warned that some youngsters on the drugs "have problems that are symptoms of nothing more than childhood or adolescence."
Clinton mentioned that between 1991 and 1995, the number of preschoolers on Ritalin increased by 150 percent, and the use of antidepressants for children under 5 increased more than 200 percent.
Clinton called attention to "Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Preschoolers" in the Feb. 23 Journal of the American Medical Association.
The article notes, "There were large increases for all study medications (except the neuroleptics) and considerable variation according to gender, age, geographic region and health care system. These findings are remarkable in light of the limited knowledge base that underlies psychotropic medication use in very young children. The vast majority of psychotropic medications prescribed for preschoolers are being used off-label."
Go to http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v283n8/rfull/joc91250.html for the article.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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