These drugs are dangerous enough for adults—so why are we giving them to two-year-olds (and even younger) children? Who exactly has the mental problem here?
A story published in The New York Times documents the rising trend of conventional doctors prescribing antipsychotic and psychotropic drugs to children two years old and younger. The report estimates that, in 2014 alone, 20,000 prescriptions were written to give young children drugs like risperidone, which is typically used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults. An additional 83,000 prescriptions were written for Prozac.
These drugs are reportedly being used to “treat” violent or withdrawn behavior, despite a complete absence of any published evidence that would support using the drugs in that way or at this age. As we recently reported, these toxic and addictive drugs are correlated with violent behavior and are probably the cause.
One of the doctors interviewed by the Times noted that, because the brain in young children is undergoing rapid transformations, it is incredibly risky to expose it to powerful, mind-altering drugs. For these reasons, the medications have never been subject to clinical trials in infants and toddlers.
We won’t subject them to clinical trials because they are too dangerous—but we will give them the drugs without conducting clinical trials. How can that make any sense?
“There’s a sense of desperation with families of children who are suffering, and the tool that most providers have is the prescription pad,” the same doctor concluded, echoing a criticism ANH-USA and others in the natural health field have been giving for ages. It is the result of a “one-size-fits-all” model of medicine, and the stubborn refusal of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow gentle and often very effective natural therapies such as foods, supplements, and lifestyle changes.
And why are so many young children exhibiting behavioral problems in the first place? More and more research is demonstrating how the microbes that reside in the gut are intimately connected with our mental health. If a poor diet (high in sugar and processed foods) and other factors (such as frequent antibiotic use) damage the gut microbiome, it can affect our mood—suggesting that what many of these children need is healthy food and a probiotic diet to address their mood problems, rather than pharmaceutical drugs that just exaggerate the problem.
Sadly, this is not the only instance of these drugs being abused and overused. We reported last year that nearly one-third of seniors with dementia who spent more than 100 days in a nursing home were given antipsychotics through Medicare’s prescription drug program. Brain-damaged veterans—as well as children living in foster care—are also routinely given these toxic and highly addictive drugs. As a society we should be taking care of these people. Instead, we are poisoning and deranging them.
This story also highlights the disparity between how conventional doctors are treated by state medical authorities and how integrative doctors are treated. Conventional doctors prescribe antipsychotics to two-year-olds despite no clinical trials or published data supporting that practice—and state medical boards and the FDA take little notice. Integrative doctors, on the other hand, are routinely harassed by medical boards and labeled “quacks” for using natural treatments that are backed up by dozens of studies—suggesting the persecution of integrative doctors is often less about safety and more about money and politics.
Toddlers Are Being Given Toxic, Mind-Altering Drugs
Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:
Big Pharma is promoting and pushing doctors to prescribe drugs. Schools are pushing parents to put children on drugs, rather than deal with the necessary discipline. Taking this further — every one of the mass shootings was committed by a person (young, white males) who were on the psychotropic drugs, but it is easier for the president to blame it on guns. We need to stop poisoning our children and find out the cause of the behavior first, before prescribing any drugs. A friend’s grandson was on drugs and while she was visiting, they took him off the drugs and she gave him only organic, healthy foods. His symptoms disappeared and he is still off the drugs. See what is in the food, before drugging the children.
Now days the doctors are the drug pusher of the pharmaceuticl companies, I know for a fact the get big bonuses and mediterranean cruises when they push their product, shame on them!!
As a parenting author (book in 17 languages) I assist many families worldwide, often with children who display the kind of aggressive out of control behaviors that doctors tend to drug. In over 20 years, I have never seen my guidance fail. Parents learn to recognize the valid cause of the behavior and when they change their ways, the child is fine, peaceful, communicative and without aggression. Drugging children instead of addressing the actual issue is the result of ignorance and incompetency driven by profit. No child needs poisons for behavior. Parents need to sort out the cause and address it fully and with connection and kindness. Usually all it requires is new skills for the parents and the problems are gone.
Amen. A voice of reason amid the noisiness of the drug culture. I wonder if some of this has to do with the mothers working instead of being with their children as they were years ago. You need to be with your children and interact with them. One size does not fit all even with children raised in the same household with the same parents. A parent needs to spend the time to get to know their children and how each acts and reacts. I only had two children but handled each in a different way to get the same result.
The Medical Community has gone completely crazy & prescribe drugs for everything.
Sounds a lot like what Dr. Peter Bruggin says about the drugging of kids.
Seriously I wish politic would just stay of it.
They did this to my son, when he was MISdiagnosed, so they would have a reason to prescribe them.
My son suffered greatly.
When I took him off ALL prescription drugs, they tried to cry “medical neglect”, or blame me or my situation for the behaviors.
Has anyone ever thought, that it is the rigors of a public svhool day, that is doing it?
Think about it, a comparable adult day, would be 1 hour board meetings, back to back, from 8am, to 2pm. With the exception of a rushed lunch.
Get up, drive/sit on bus for an hour, get off bus, wait for preliminaries, pay attention to something for an hour, that does NOT interest you, that is mandatory. After that, sit again for another hour, then again, then go eat, then sit, then again,then go to mandatory exercise class, then get ready to leave, drive/ride the bus home, then do it again, for 180 days, every single day, for YEARS.
Everything, always mandated.
That is what they consider “an education”.
If an education, truly was engaging, interesting, creative, hands on, and fascinating, kids would whine about not wanting to miss something.
If an adult hates sitting and doing boring paperwork, and mandatory tasks, that never take into account, their individuality, and NOT get paid for it, then imagine a child facing that every day, plus extremely stressful testing, and deadlines.
I homeschooled my son, and he’s VOLUNTARILY read THOUSANDS of books, He remembers details, who wrote what, and massive amounts of info. However, he cannot write an essay, and is combative when forced to do something he doesn’t want to do.
He has ODD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, MISdiagnosed as ADHD.
There is no prescription drug “treatment” for ODD.
Since they MISdiagnosed him, THEY gave a 6 year old EVERY known ADHD med, with NO behavioral improvement. That was ritilan (methamphetimine), rispredol (not approved for ADHD, or ODD, in children, (they tried to diagnose him as “bipolar”, to justify prescribing it), clonidine (blood pressure med), Stratera, Adderall, Focalin, Concerta, vyvansy (caused him to quit eating ANYTHING) etc.
Then they want him to go to public school and do well, with these meds causing behavioral roller coaster rides (takes time to kick in, wears off, get more takes time to kick in, etc) or side effects, raging, mood swings, stupor, and sever apatite suppression.
My son, finally evolved into a somewhat normal teen, still off all meds, and still homeschooled.
His childhood, was so insanely messed up, I’m really sad for the loss.
In fact, he’s waiting to become 18, so we’ll be free from persecution.
I will not be blamed for his behaviors anymore, but I fear he will be killed (by cops), for a minor infraction. He might get belligerent, or throw something, if he gets frustrated, and be arrested.
That’s one of the reasons I took him out of public school. These tantrums, would quickly be classified, as legal infractions, and he’d be sent to juvie hall or worse.
My son, only eats veganic. Vegan and organic. He’s never sick, or overweight.
America, is such an insane country, every single thing has to be about money in the end, not about actual education, integrity, purpose, usefulness, and inherent skills or abilities. It’s about control, as well.
The “Drs”, never considered any other childhood malady, such as a behavioral disorder, allergy, giftedness (gifted kids get bored, and act out), dysgraphia, dyslexia, Asperger’s, sensoy disorder, NOTHING.
Oh, he can’t sit still, can’t “focus”, can’t pay attention, well then, he has ADHD, Here, give him these controlled DRUGS, for LIFE. See you next month! (if the child is diagnosed with a chronic problem, they will keep coming back EVERY month, for “management” for a LIFETIME.
All
It’s ONLY about MONEY.
All these kids coming back every month, forever, and I charge Medicaid, for these endless office visits EVERY month, means I get paid until I WANT to retire. My job is so strenuous, asking “So Jimmy, how is school going? “ok” says Jimmy absently. “well, that’s great, see you next month”.
Mom says, “see all these pink slips (1/2″ thich pile), things are NOT ok”.
Oh, I see, let’s try THIS med them (writes new prescription), see you next month!” Arrrrggg!
This helped the child or mom how exactly?
It didn’t.
It helped the “Dr.”, his staff, and the pharma manufacturer, NOT THE CHILD.
You are a very caring mom. Hats off to you for your every day work in trying to help your child. You are teacher, counselor, dietician, detective, nurse, doctor, etc. –in other words–Mother! I pray you can help your child with his tantrums. Actually, praying would help and maybe music? Also, have you ever tried having your son write about his angry feelings? Please don’t take this as an insult. My kids are grown, and I see where I could’ve done better. I only say this because I know this is the time to fix things–not later.
I am in awe of what you’ve already done and will keep you and your son in my prayers.
The doctors can’t make you give drugs to your child(in most cases),you are the one who consented.
Our grandson’s 2nd grade teacher “diagnosed” him as being ADHD (hmmm so she has a medical degree too???? ) and so . . . . drugs were prescribed and our daughter – a single mom, agreed to it grrrrrrr.. 2 years later he was a zombie had not lost a single baby tooth, and had not grown much. FINALLY our daughter got him off the drugs. People at the school were freaked out, but his fourth grade teacher said, NEVER< ever ever ever put him on those drugs again. He is now 13 years old, and not on drugs.
You are justifiably angry. I can’t believe the amount of kids on drugs for behaviroal control. When I was in school lots boys were always energetic and a few would get loud and try to be funny and act up. Maybe 1 or 2 in a class. The teacher let them burn off the excess energy and if it went too long they’d tell them to sit down and behave, which they did. I think today that they lost track of reality, that school is not too interesting and all you say is true, many hours sitting, sitting and sitting. Many useless never to be needed lessons. Just endless (today) memorizing things for upcoming endless tests. I guess I was lucky that my teacher did interactive things, make wall murals of historical things for the hallways, create maps with flour, water, etc to make mountains and lakes they we painted. Well we had lots of activities. Even plays that we made papier mache costumes to wear to re-enact pilgrims, the colonies, etc. I pity the little tykes bent over from a heavy backpack nearly as big as they are to take even more school work home to spend most their after school hours studying. I’ve seen them so tired they had no energy to lean down and pet a leaping happy to see them dog. It is pathetic. We had no homework until 8th grade and it never took more than a half hour to an hour to do. Funny that we built the greatest nation on earth do to people who most could not read or write. I am sorry for your son and those like him, boys naturally have more energy and want to be doing things, not sitting all day. I don’t know a single adult that wants to bring home his work and spend his evening on it and maybe even the weekends. Like you say, no incentive, no money, no nothing. Talk about child abuse, this is it.
There has never been an illness caused by a lack of drugs. There are plenty of illnesses exacerbated by the side effects of drugs. I was shocked when my oldest child started school (she is 34 now) and I found that about half the boys were on behavior-modifying drugs by first grade. This is in Montana, and funded by the federal government. I would sure home school or do any other thing before drugging my child!
We all have to smarten up & not depend on our learned leaders to do what is right.
The dumbing down of Americans is complete. Meekly line up and allow poisons called vaccines into our innocent children. The elite have real vaccines for themselves and we have poisons.
My mind is permanently messed up because I was put on drugs in school 20 years ago because I was a kid and didn’t want to be in school.
Sad thing is, my parents didn’t know any better, and by the time they had me taken off them, it was too late. Damage done and it will persist for my entire life.
I hate the thought of things like this happening to other people.
Maybe it’s a simple matter of finances – as in kick-backs. It is openly known to occur with chemotherapy drugs; why would any other area of medical practice be different. I must concur with the poster below: the medical community has gone totally crazy. How else would you account for the ongoing and escalating prescribing of medications when it’s obvious they bring no result of a cure. One recent television advertisement for an Alzheimer’s drug stated, once the language was distilled down, it would do nothing for the patient – but ask your doctor if *** is right for your loved one!
Babies, children, and pregnant women used to be ‘sacrosanct.’ It is demented beyond comprehension to knowingly bring harm to these groups in particular.
As a nation, the media has acclimated too many to rely unquestioningly upon the advice of self-proclaimed ‘experts.’ We’ve been manipulated by messages for so long, we no longer possess a sense of competence in our ability to think. We’ve become experts at ‘following.’
Organic, healthy foods and a probiotic diet, is what these toddlers need, NOT the drugs! The solution is simple: People simply need to stop buying these “poisonous drugs” and look into healthier alternatives/supplements coupled with a good diet, preferably organic if you can afford it.
I’m glad I was really good at school. In elementary school, I could daydream most of the day and still do well. I had to try a bit harder in middle and high school, but by that age I could handle it and still got excellent grades. So I wasn’t made to take any psychotropic drugs. In high school I started refusing the OTC medications my parents would offer me for headaches, colds, etc, and I haven’t taken any drugs whatsoever since. If I get a headache anymore I drink water because I’m probably dehydrated. It’s unfortunate that so many children are given inappropriate drugs because nobody can think of a better solution.