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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 12 page paper. The ratio of children who are diagnosed with a psychiatric condition and the numbers who are taking psychotropic drugs has soared in the last ten to fifteen years. In fact, prescriptions for Ritalin alone rose by 600 percent since the late 1980s. The writer provides a comprehensive investigation of the diagnosis and the use of prescribed drugs. Some studies allege that children are overdiagnosed and overmedicated, some concluded that many children slip through the cracks and are not diagnosed and treated, while still others suggest it is an issue of misdiagnosis and improper medication. This essay concludes with a discussion that addresses the ethics of prescribing these medications to children, when many have not been approved for use below the age of 18. Statistical data included. Bibliography lists 14 sources.
Page Count:
12 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGkidrx.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
published in February 2003 reported that the number of prescriptions for psychotropic drugs for children under the age of 18 soared between 1987 and 1996 (Science News, 2003). Julie M.
Zito, from the University of Maryland in Baltimore, analyzed the medical data records for 900,000 children who were receiving Medicaid benefits in three different regions of the United States, the
mid-Atlantic, the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest (Science News, 2003). This group of investigators found that 2.5 percent of children and teenagers had been prescribed psychiatric medications in 1987
but that proportion jumped to 6.2 percent in 1996 (Science News, 2003). The most commonly prescribed drugs were Ritalin and other stimulants for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (Science News, 2003).
The next most commonly prescribed group of medications was anticonvulsant for mood disorders (Science News, 2003). The investigators were unable to determine if this rise in the use of these
drugs among the young population was because of an emphasis on providing comprehensive health care at earlier ages or if it was the result of an ever-increasing reliance on drug
therapy without trying behavior or other kinds of therapeutic intervention (Science News, 2003). Antidepressants are also being used in larger numbers than in the past (Goode, 2003). Research reveals pediatricians
and child psychiatrists seem to be turning to pharmacological interventions for "depression, attention disorder, severe anxiety, obsessive disorder, manic depression and other condition" (Goode, 2003). Ritalin is the most
often prescribed medication for ADD/ADHD; prescriptions for Ritalin have risen by 600 percent in the last ten years (Napoli, 1998). Numerous other drugs have also been prescribed for this condition,
such as dextroamphetamine and clonidine, an antihypertensive medication prescribed for adults (Napoli, 1998). One study found infants as young as one year old were diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed various
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