By: zaivala on 12/17/08
This is amazing! I have been running a Yahoogroup called ALT-therapies4bipolar for nearly 7 years, and have gotten hundreds of adults off psychiatric medications safely; but we often bemoan the fact that our children and grandchildren are being drugged at record rates. One opinion magazine has even dubbed the current generation of children "Generation Rx". It is my opinion, based on years of non-medical experience, that as much as 80% of bipolar disorder and depression is due to poor nutrition (and poor physician choices), especially in diets lacking in fish and natural sources of lithium, and that this can be corrected with nutritional supplements (such as fish oil and lithium orotate, not to mention magnesium and malic acid). It's not this simple in all cases, but has worked for most in my group.

Thanks for LSUHSC for finding a way to NOT serve their Pharmaceutical Overlords.

By: MarketingGuy on 12/18/08
It’s good to see that someone is working to reduce the use of these dangerous chemical agents on children.

The only thing I would change is that this program should apply to all children on any number of drugs. These medications are DANGEROUS and many have not even been approved by the FDA for kids!

Louisiana has seen skyrocketing use of powerful antipsychotic drugs that in many cases haven’t even been approved for children. It’s time to turn this around.

As Dr. Irvin correctly points out, overmedication of children is rampant.

Something should be done about this in the 2009 Louisiana legislative session.

By: rrhyne56 on 12/18/08
This is long overdue. The psychiatric drugging of anyone, much less our children, is criminal and irresponsible.

By: Bunnysmom on 12/18/08
This is great - someone who finally recognizes an egregious problem in this country and is working to correct it. It is appalling what is happening to children. The drug companies and psychiatrists in general are doing their best to create a nation of zombies.

By: dcottle561 on 12/18/08
I agree there is too much drugging of children. I read a report last year that over 70 Percent of people being given psychiatric drugs actually had an undiagnosed physical problem--ranging from allergies, to nutritional deficiencies, to vitamin deficiencies, and even brain tumors. Yet their psychiatrists had not screened for those physical causes before proscribing psychiatric drugs.

By: sandra9999 on 12/18/08
I think finally a psychiatrist is being responsible. For decades, it seems like many psychiatrists, as well as general practitioners have been over prescribing medication to both children and the elderly to handle their "mental" problems when often there are physical problems behind the mental ones. Often children and the elderly (and the rest of us as well) are not receiving the correct nutrition, not exercising, or have other treatable medical problems. Instead of finding and handling these, we precribe psychiatric drugs which mask the symptoms and often have disasterous side effects (such as the huge increase in suicide among children who are given these drugs). Instead of fixing our schools, school lunches, teaching parents about nutrition, etc., we just drug our children. There are many studies which show that exercise handles depression better than drugs, but how many doctors tell a patient to get exercise instead of precribing a drug? Few. If we are unfortunate enough to end up in a hospital, we can get drugged with a psychiatric drug - even if it is on the medical chart not to give the drug to us. My first husband had a broken hip and they took him off his Parkinson's drugs, and then behind my back gave him a psychiatric drug which resulted in him completely losing his ability to swallow, develop pneumonia and die. The excuse "the nurses did not read the chart".
Another friend had a sister-in-law who wanted to stop smoking, so her doctor prescribed a psychiatric drug. Within two weeks she had committed suicide. Our doctors who are supposed to "do no harm" are making a nation of drug (prescription) addicts. We are the most drugged nation in the world. The more we drug people, the higher our crime statistics. When are we going to stop this nonsense. Thank you Dr. Irwin for starting to move things in the right direction.

By: junec on 12/18/08
Psychiatric drugging of children is criminal as far as I am concerned.There is absolutely no SCIENTIFIC evidence to back up any of these so called mental disorders. No blood tests, no scans, no tests that support any of these "Illnesses." These are dangerous mind-altering drugs and the public needs to wake-up and refuse to put their children on them. Psychiatry is not a science and this is an admission from the Psychiatric Association themselves. They admit that they cannot cure anyone. They ahve managed to convince people that normal feelings associated with life are a disease. My mother in law lost a friend of 50 years and was very sad and the doctors wanted to put her on anti-depressants! It is normal to feel sad if a close friend dies,you would be abnormal if you felt nothing and that is exactly what these drugs do, make a person an emotional zombie. The FDA panel that approves these drugs have Psychiatrists that own stock in the major drug companies that manufacture these drugs! Do some real investigation and see how long it takes to get some of these drugs approved. Some are approved in as little as 6 months before being mass marketed! It is nice to see a Psychiatrist who is willing to take a stand against the drug companies and get these children off these horrible drugs. I am sure someone is going to get on here and tell how great their child is after being put on medication. That may be the apparancy but putting a band-aid (all that these drugs do)on a festering wound just covers up the wound so that you can't see it. The wound is still there and it will continue to fester and you won't see the last of it. At that time, they will say that he needs another medication and then another until you have the child on 4 or 5 or more medications. What do you think that child's chances are of coping with and surviving in the real world?

By: DeadAgent on 12/18/08
Recognize that the real problem is that psychiatrists fraudulently diagnose life's problems as an "illness", and stigmatize unwanted behavior or study problems as "diseases." Psychiatry's stigmatizing labels, programs and treatments are harmful junk science; their diagnoses of "mental disorders" are a hoax - unscientific, fraudulent and harmful. All psychiatric treatments, not just psychiatric drugs, are dangerous, and can cause crime.

It is vital that you and everyone you know watch the video documentary "Making A Killing - The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging". Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of psychiatric abuse victims and the survivors themselves, this riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine. The facts are hard to believe, but fatal to ignore. Watch the video online at
http://www.cchr.org/#/videos/making-a-killing-introduction.

By: teachinghumanrights on 12/19/08
This is a great day in Louisiana! Dr. Irwin is doing something about off-label prescription of mind-altering drugs to children. Helping children get off 3 or more psychiatric drugs never meant for children and that they probably never needed is definitely doing something about child abuse. Thanks Dr. Irwin.

By: sarah on 12/19/08
The out of control drugging of children, has many of us extremely worried about the future of our children and that of our country. Dr. Irwin's voice of sanity in an insane situation is a welcome one which I hope more people will listen to and add their own voices.

By: Runrun102 on 12/20/08
Someday, America's massive drugging of its population, even its children, as a solution to " behavioral problems that result from interpersonal difficulties, realistic feelings that are not excessive or out of proportion to the child's real life experiences, or reactions to current life stresses" (read "everyday problems of life") will appear as stupid, wrong-headed and outright self-destructive as the once state-of-the-art practice of bleeding feverish patients to relieve them of their "hot blood" appears to us now.

Kudos to anyone who opposes this idiotic practice, though it may well be too little too late to reverse the tailspin into chaos American society now finds itself.

By: teacher on 12/22/08
I'm glad that someone in the psychology community is at least trying to get people to reduce the use of drugs on children. I'm not necessarily for additional "professional evaluation" but I know for a fact that some so-called parents are not doing a very good job handling their childrens' true needs. I was shopping in the wee hours of the morning the other day and observed many couples with squalling 3-6 year old children with them. These "behavioral problems" could easily be solved by one of those parents staying home where the children could be soundly asleep in bed while the other parent did the shopping. What are these people thinking?! After years of such stupidity, it's no wonder that children come to school drained. And when these basic rudiments of the body are missing, behavioral problems ensue. It doesn't take a PHD to figure that out. Anyone who has found himself grumpy and argumentative after skipping a meal or staying up half the night can see this.

By: Responder1 on 12/26/08
I hope this program will soon become many of its kind in the Psychiatric community. It's hard to fathom that a profession such a psychiatry, which is responsible for the unnecessary drugging of a very significant percentage of the world's population, is allowed to exist.

By: John on 12/31/08
I believe the root of the problem is with the lack of love and patience in adults for the handling and guidance of the natural behavioral problems in children. It is also chiefly due to the desire in man for profit or gain, the love of money if you will. The problem and solution is of the spirit, and because of ignorance is treated as physical because of the proclivity to label as such, which is lazy, and the easier way out. So man thinks! The real results are clear and cry out loudly if one chooses to listen and see. STOP POISONING OUR CHILDREN AND START NURTURING THEM THE WAY GOD INTENDED!

By: duanesherry on 1/16/09
These kids need this program....without question!

I'm so thankful that finally a doctor stepped up to the plate to do the right thing by our children!

While they withdraw, there many alternative treatments for kids who suffer from these symptoms....

This is a link to find them (non-commercial) -

http://discoverandrecover.wordpress.com

Duane Sherry, M.S., CRC
Discover and Recover: Resources for Mental Wellness

By: Jenn on 1/20/09
Thank goodness !
What a wonderful idea for a program.
This type of program is needed all over the country. I know I truly wish we had something in the Syracuse area!
Thank you Dr. Irwin for putting yourself out there to do what is right for these kids! I wish you the best with the program.

Jennifer Musto, LMSW
Syracuse NY

By: AmyJohnsonMD on 1/20/09
As a child psychiatrist, this is great news. The pendulum in psychiatry may finally be swinging back, from where it has been stuck: behavior checklists and multiple medications. We need to look at the REASONS that children are having problems, and treat those, not just subdue them with medications.

The behavioral and biological method of assessing children is based on behaviors and not causes. A list of behaviors leads to a diagnosis, which leads to a medication. Many parents are relieved to find something to explain the problem and to help the child's behavior, but usually it is more complicated than that.

Things that can be missed: learning disabilities, gifted and talented issues, sexual and physical abuse, drug abuse, bullying or harassment, dietary
deficiencies such as Omega 3 FA or minerals,allergies, hypoglycemia, parenting issues, stress, etc.
These require a complete examination and formulation to be addressed. Medications won't fix these problems, just lessen the behavior.

The argument against this kind of approach is based on "scientific evidence," which is able to study behaviors and effects the most easily. Yet with all the conflict of interest problems coming up with many psychiatrists in academia, it seems to be a weak argument. How can you be an objective scientific observer when you are getting millions of dollars from pharmaceutical companies to promote their product.

We need conflict of interest legilation in psychiatry as well as a more well-rounded approach.

Amy Johnson M.D.
Louisville KY

By: concerned on 1/25/09
In reading most of these posts, I remain concerned that people are taking such an all or nothing approach. The research out there certainly does support a surprising increase in the use of some medications, such as atypical antipsychotics. But, the research also shows the following:
1) the majority of increases are by primary care doctors prescribing to control what is described as aggressive kids;
2) there is a call to action by most people in medicine to reduce this prescribing pattern, especially since academics have indeed been discovering that drug companies have overstated the benefits and minimized the risks;
3) many medical societies are aware of the conflicts of interest and have been attempting to wean the influence of drug companies on their members (in fact, their attempts have been sometimes stymied by the archaic laws that prohibit doctors from acting as a collective mass or union);
3) and that there has been a clear reduction in suicides associated with increased use of antidepressants in children and teens who have depression (the flip of this is that there has also been an increase in suicides and suicide attempts seemingly connected to a decrease in prescriptions of antidepressants in the past few years).

I am NOT for doping kids. I am not in support of the overprescribing of meds that seems to be rampant. But, many of these posts sound extreme when one doesn't acknowledge that there are benefits to treating kids who are suicidal, psychotic, aggressive, etc. As a parent, I work hard to establish a loving and caring environment. I too jump to thinking that at times the parent is just not caring or concerned enough when I see a kid who is acting up in public. But, I also know that as a parent I would be completely devastated if someone in my family died because s/he was suicidal or schizophrenic and there weren't supportive, caring doctors out there to step and in do all they can to protect my family.

I don't usually post to these types of forums, but I was really struck by what seemed as a one-sided argument that at times left out the victims of mental illness (children and their families).

With respect,