Luckily the psychiatric antipsychotic plague is now being exposed by
major media in Britain as well as the U.S.

You can make a comment here:
http://ios.typepad.com/ios/2008/06/britains-child.html

The Independent
Britain's child victims of the chemical cosh [chemical cosh - n.
a drug or mix of drugs used to subdue a patient, prisoner, or other
person.]
Powerful anti-psychotic drugs designed for adults are being used to
treat children
By Brian Brady and Nina Lakhani
Sunday, 15 June 2008

The number of powerful psychiatric drugs prescribed to England's
children has risen by more than half in four years, government figures
have revealed.

GPs in England are handing out prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs
for children as young as seven at the rate of 250 a day, according to
figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday.

Latest data compiled for the NHS show that tranquillisers designed to
treat serious conditions including schizophrenia in adults were
prescribed to young people 57,000 times in 2003. But the total had
risen to more than 90,000 by 2006 – a 59 per cent rise in three years.
The figures do not include drugs dispensed in hospitals. Experts
believe the increase is partly down to early detection and treatment
of serious mental health problems in children, but there is also
concern they are being used inappropriately to treat psychological and
learning difficulties. Shortage of staff and resources are further
factors.

The drugs, which are designed to treat symptoms such as visual
hallucinations, hearing voices and delusional thoughts, have serious
side effects including weight gain, tiredness, sexual dysfunction and
lactation. The safety and effectiveness of these drugs, which were
designed for adults, have not been fully tested on children.

Official guidelines say they should be used only as part of a wider
treatment package, but there are concerns GPs are relying on them too
heavily because other treatments are unavailable. Some GPs, however,
stand accused of ignoring or being ignorant of the guidelines.

England's mental health chief, Louis Appleby, said, "We are aware that
anti-psychotic drugs are sometimes used as a last resort by clinicians
dealing with highly disturbed behaviours in young people, and we are
now considering how to prepare clinical guidance on this area of
practice."

Psychiatrists and mental health charities have warned against using
anti-psychotic drugs on developing minds. Paul Corry, director of
public affairs for the mental health charity Rethink, said: "It is
worrying that these very powerful drugs designed for adults are being
given in such high numbers to children before their brains are fully
developed.

"If the increase is because previously undiagnosed teenagers are now
getting treatment, then that is positive. But it is difficult to
justify the widespread use of these drugs in younger children because
it is actually unlikely they will have schizophrenia at such a young
age."

Anti-psychotics are commonly used to treat conditions including
schizophrenia, mania and delusional disorder by blocking the chemical
dopamine in the brain. But they have also been widely used for their
"calming" effects in other conditions, such as autism and
hyperactivity.

MPs and pressure groups have already complained about the use of
anti-psychotic drugs in care homes to manage people with dementia –
often to treat "behaviour that is neither distressing nor threatening,
such as restlessness or being vocal".

But experts have raised further concerns about their growing use on
young people. A study by the University of London's School of Pharmacy
last month found that the prescription of the drugs to children almost
doubled between 1992 and 2005 – with the greatest increase among
children aged seven to 12.

Figures provided for the IoS from the NHS Prescription Cost Analysis
(PCA) system prove that the trend has continued to rise dramatically.
The increase in costs can be partly explained by the move towards
prescribing newer or atypical drugs, which are more expensive but
generally have fewer and less severe side effects.

But mental health campaigners are outraged by the number of older,
typical drugs such as chlorpromazine and haloperidol still being
prescribed. There were more than 7,000 prescriptions for these two
drugs, widely known as a "chemical cosh", in 2006, which means nearly
20 prescriptions every day.

According to Rethink, there is no excuse for prescribing these
powerful drugs and they should have been phased out. Mr Corry said:
"The use of these older drugs is just wrong. There is no excuse at
all. They may be cheaper but they are associated with some of the most
debilitating and stigmatising mental healthcare from the 20th century,
which led to people behaving like zombies."

Guidelines from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice)
state that atypical anti-psychotics should be the first choice for
treatment for young people, who should be given all necessary
information to make an informed choice about treatment. Many young
people complain they are not warned about the side effects.

When Elaine Hewis's teenage daughter was admitted to a psychiatric
hospital in 2004, she assumed the treatment would be far removed from
that she herself had received. But Mrs Hewis, 43, was wrong. She said:
"The doctors had prescribed her anti-psychotics within days. But
despite my pleas they refused to tell her about the side effects
because they were worried she wouldn't take them if she knew.

"When she came to me distressed because her breasts were leaking milk,
I told her this had happened to me and again tried to get the doctors
to be honest with her. They then tried to remove me as her nearest
relative because they felt I was a bad influence."

New teams have been brought in to catch cases early. Psychiatrists and
nurses would work closely with teachers, youth workers, school nurses,
family therapists, social workers and psychologists. While progress
has been made, the reality is that many of these teams have few
resources and the emphasis is often on drug treatments.

Mr Corry said: "It is a crying shame because early intervention is one
of the rare parts of mental health with an evidence base. If we get to
people early and treat them with a combination of psychological,
social and medical intervention, then their chances of a full recovery
increase dramatically. But you need to do all of these things, not
just the medication."

Clinical psychologist Rufus May was treated with anti-psychotics as a
teenager. He believes the drugs stop a young person from understanding
their symptoms and from learning skills to manage difficult
experiences by trying to block them out. He said: "The early
intervention movement has turned into the early drugging movement.
These very powerful drugs can affect the emotional and cognitive
development of a young person as well as sapping them of their
confidence and motivation."

But psychiatrists argue the rise in prescribing to children represents
a success. Young people are being treated earlier.

Professor Sue Bailey from the Royal College of Psychiatrists said:
"This increase reflects the development of better adolescent mental
health services, which means ill children are being identified
earlier, and we are going in more assertively with a treatment package
that includes medication.

"Early identification and treatment lead to better outcomes. The real
difficulty we face is convincing young people to take the medication
and stay compliant."

'No one ever talked about side effects with me, not once'

Lucy Bennett, 19, from Exeter, lives with her seven-month-old son
Harvey. For a year she lived in psychiatric hospitals with medication
the only option.

"By the time I was 15 I had every problem you can imagine. I was into
drugs, alcohol, boys, and had stopped going to school. After years of
growing up with my mum's mental illness and alcohol problems, I was on
a road to self-destruction. I finally told a psychiatrist in A&E I was
hearing voices after which I was admitted to hospital straight away.

"I felt terrible. I was all over the place, so when the doctors and
nurses told me the medication would make me feel better, I took them.
In some ways I did feel a bit better. I was a complete zombie and
sleeping all the time which meant I didn't care about the voices any
more, but they were still there.

"Within days I had started leaking milk from my breast. It was awful.
I swapped medication and within three months I had put on three stone.
I was so depressed at being a size 16 I started making myself sick. I
ended up with bulimia as well.

"As soon as I decided I didn't want to take the drugs I was sectioned
and forcibly injected. I ended pretending the voices had gone just so
I could get out. Drugs were the only option. I had a psychology
session for an hour a week and a few family therapy sessions but that
was it. No one ever talked about side effects with me, not once. I
ended up having to get information from my mum and other patients.

"Three years later I am medication free and learning new ways to cope
with my voices. I have a great community psychiatric nurse, who lets
me keep some medication for emergencies, but I'm in control now. There
is no way I could look after my son if I was still on the medication.
I know they can help some people but they didn't help me. I should
have been given the choice."

Link:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/britains...