“Prescribed psychotropic medications are now high on the research agenda,” assert Lakhan and Hagger-Johnson. Their study advocates new approaches to research to address the rising concern over dramatic increases in psychotropic prescriptions for both children and young.

Our first post delineated the five erroneous myths often adhered to when prescribing youth’s psychotropic medication. Here are the three areas of recommended research to address this “alarming” problem. Read more →

“The dramatic rise in prescriptions [of psychotropics for children and young adults] has alarmed several commentators,” according to Lakhan and Hagger-Johnson. In their article, they trace this problem to five erroneous myths that influence prescribing:

1) Children are little adults. During adolescence, the brain changes rapidly. As a result, therapeutic benefits, potential adverse occurrences, and drug interactions can vary with age. Adolescents, in particular, have unique characteristics meaning inconsistent results and effects. For example, SSRIs are being prescribed less for adolescents because studies have identified increased suicide risk among adolescents taking them. Read more →

In 1998, a landmark study was published in the medical journal The Lancet. It was the first major research that suggested a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Almost immediately following publication, the rates of vaccination plummeted and the incidence of measles escalated among children. Since then, the subject has been the source of much controversy, and much of the science has been disproved in other research. Now, the original journal admits it may have made a mistake in publishing the research in the first place. Read more →

If we are what we eat, then we might expect children who eat a lot of candy to be sweet and lovable. Quite the opposite, according to recent research. Authors of a study published in a recent issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry claim that children who eat a lot of confectionery treats are more likely to be violent adults.

The British researchers followed more than 17,000 British children born in 1970 for almost 4 decades. More than two-thirds (69%) of the children arrested for violent behavior by age 34 ate candy daily at age 10. Read more →

Obesity is a global epidemic, in adults and children. The increase in childhood obesity has been linked to behavioral and environmental factors: decreased physical activity and increased television viewing. Now it is clear that these activities are detrimental not only to physical health, but also psychological health. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that television viewing and physical inactivity are determinants of psychological distress in children. Read more →

Children and adolescents of depressed parents are four to six times more likely to develop depressive symptoms themselves than children of non-depressed parents. This translates to approximately 61% of children of parents with depression developing a psychiatric disorder during their life. Strikingly, more than one-quarter of children in America will experience at least one episode of depression by the time they reach adulthood. Overall, an estimated 1 in 5 Americans will experience depression sometime in their lives, equating to a large number of children with depressed parents. Many studies have focused on the treatment of depression in both adults and children and adolescents, but few focus on its prevention. A new study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examines the efficacy of preventive interventions in adolescents with depressed parents. Read more →