Psycho-Drugging Kids With No Verifiable Disease

[rabana]

found these two related articles in dr. rath's newsletter this morning.

first of all, dr. rath's link:

The Dr. Rath Health Foundation | Responsibility for a healthy world

now some good news about how the drug companys will no longer be allowed to bribe medical persons and institutions:

IndyStar.com | Take After Meals | The Indianapolis Star

and finally , the ins and outs of psycho-diagnosis and drugging:

lawyersandsettlements.com Blog Archive Drugging Kids With No Verifiable Disease

Drugging Kids With No Verifiable Disease

Psychiatry’s marketing strategy is to invent diagnoses out of thin air and call them diseases as an excuse to prescribe drugs, according to Dr Fred Baughman, author of The ADHD Fraud.

Last year, he helped a Canadian father, whose son had been diagnosed with multiple mental disorders write an inquiry to Health Canada, an agency similar to the FDA, asking for information on ways to validate a mental illness diagnosis. Health Canada responded with a letter dated November 10, 2008, which stated in part:

“For mental/psychiatric disorders in general, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and ADHD, there are no confirmatory gross, microscopic or chemical abnormalities that have been validated for objective physical diagnosis. Rather, diagnoses of possible mental conditions are described strictly in terms of patterns of symptoms that tend to cluster together.”

Dr Baughman then wrote a similar inquiry to FDA Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach, and forwarded a copy of the letter from Health Canada. Donald Dobbs from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, who consulted with the FDA’s new drug review division, responded to Dr Baughman’s inquiry by stating:

“…they concurred with the response you enclosed from Health Canada. Psychiatric disorders are diagnosed based on a patient’s presentation of symptoms that the larger psychiatric community has come to accept as real and responsive to treatment. We have nothing more to add to Health Canada’s response.”

“Once children are diagnosed with a mental disorder, that label stays with them throughout their school and medical history,” Dr Baughman warns.

“If they are made to take addictive stimulants or other dangerous psychiatric drugs, they are victims of the biggest health care fraud in history,” he advises.

In an April 19, 2009 commentary on the Discover and Recover website, Dr John Breeding, author of, Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses, also says psychiatry “touts a pseudoscientific belief system as if it were validated science,” and “the mental health industry is rife with other major overt ethical failures.” He further explains:

“Many prominent researchers and industry spokespersons are now fighting for their professional lives as the hidden monies they received from Big Pharma are revealed. Psychiatry department chairs Charles Nemeroff ($1 million from GlaxoSmithKline alone) of Emory University, Martin Keller of Brown University (associated with a severely compromised drug trial), and Alan Shatzberg of Stanford (who was principal investigator on a drug developed by a company in which he owned $6 million of stock) have all recently resigned their positions as a result of Grassley’s investigation.

“Joseph Biederman of Harvard (largely responsible for the explosive 4000% increase in the number of children diagnosed and treated as “bipolar,” usually with the most damaging of all psychiatric drugs, the antipsychotics) received at least $1.6 million from Big Pharma in the first several years of this 21st century. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed him and two of his Harvard colleagues.

“Several other prominent doctors in the University of Texas system—John Rush, Lynn Crismon, Graham Emslie and Karen Wagner to name just a few—have been shown to have severe financial conflicts of interest from monies received via Big Pharma.”

The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center website explains bipolar disorder and reports in part:

“Symptoms may be present since infancy or early childhood, or may suddenly emerge in adolescence or adulthood. Until recently, a diagnosis of the disorder was rarely made in childhood. Child psychiatrists can now recognize and treat bipolar disorder in very young children.”

“It is thought that a significant number of children diagnosed in the United States with attention-deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD) have early-onset bipolar disorder instead of, or along with, ADHD.

“According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, up to one-third of the 3.4 million children and adolescents with depression in the United States may actually be experiencing the early onset of bipolar disorder.”

The child psychiatrists at the top of this center are Robert Kowatch and Melissa DelBello, the gal who landed on Senator Grassley’s list in the spring of 2008 for not disclosing her payments from the makers of psychiatric drugs. Their website also reports that:

“Many times, it necessary to use 3-4 medications to effectively treat a child or adolescent with a bipolar disorder. Typically, there is a partial response to one medication and another psychotropic agent is added in the hopes of achieving a full response. It is not unusual for pediatric patients with a bipolar disorder to be treated with 1 or 2 mood stabilizers, an atypical antipsychotic agent, a stimulant for ADHD, and clonidine or gabapentin for sleep.”

In the section for treatment of bipolar disorder, under, “Mood Stabilizers and Atypical Antipsychotics Agents,” in addition to Lithium, the website lists the anticonvulsants Divalproex sodium or valproic acid (Depakote); Carbamazepine (Tegretol), Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), Lamotrigine (Lamictal), Topiramate (Topamax) and Tiagabine (Gabatril)

The section identifies: Clozaril, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Geodon, Aripiprazole (Abilitat) and states: “These newer agents are often used to treat bipolar disorders in adults, children and adolescents and appear to be effective mood stabilizers.”

The website bases these recommendations on the “Treatment of Guidelines for Children and Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder,” in the March 2005 Journal of the Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The authors of the guidelines are Robert Kowatch, Mary Fristad, Boris Birmaher, Karen Wagner, Robert Finding, and Martha Hellander. The list for the Working Group Members and Contributors to the guideline project includes, among others, Joseph Biederman and Melissa DelBello.

The project was sponsored by the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation and supported by grants from Abbott Labs, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceutical, Novartis, and Pfizer.

The Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation’s Professional Advisory Board also includes the names, Boris Birmaher, Melissa DelBello, Robert Findling, Mary Fristad, Joseph Biederman, Robert Kowatch, and Karen Wagner.

Keeping in mind that: “It is not unusual for pediatric patients with bipolar disorder to be treated with 1 or 2 mood stabilizers, an atypical antipsychotic agent, a stimulant for ADHD, and clonidine or gabapentin for sleep,” the prices for the anticonvulsants listed above on DrugStore.com at a middle dose, in December 2008, were: Depakene 180 capsules $434, Lamictal 180 tablets $929, Tegretol 180 tablets $152, Topamax 180 tablets $1170, and Trileptal 180 tablets $496. Gabitril was listed at $458 for ninety tablets in April 2009.

The atypical prices, at a middle dose, in April 2009 were: Abilify 90 tablets $1230, Geodon 100 capsules $787, Invega 100 tablets $1168, Risperdal 90 tablets $716, Seroquel 100 tablets $839, and Zyprexa 90 tablets $1195

Some of the December 2008 ADHD drug prices, at a middle dose, were: Adderall 90 capsules $278, Concerta 90 tablets $412, Daytrana thirty 9-hour patches 3 boxes $437, Desoxyn 90 tablets $366, Strattera 90 capsules $464, and Vyvanse 90 capsules $385.

The price for Catapres (clonidine) was $183 for one hundred 2mg tablets and 270 capsules of Gabapentin sold for $209 at 400mg.

For the guidelines in the Journal of the Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the “panel recommended that medication tapering or discontinuation be considered if the patient has achieved remission for a minimum of 12 to 24 consecutive months.” “It was acknowledged that for many patients, long-term or even lifelong pharmacotherapy might be indicated,” the authors noted.

If a child ends up on the two mood stablizers, Limictal and Topamax, the yearly cost for these two drugs alone will be roughly $25,188. Add the antipsychotic Abilify to the mix, at a cost of $14,760, and the annual treatment rises to $39,948. Then throw in the ADHD drug, Concerta, at a yearly cost of $4,944, and Condine for sleep, at $2,196, and the total yearly price tag comes to $47,088.

In no other field of medicine could parents be suckered into paying fifty grant a year for drugs to treat a disease that could not even be substantiated.

Evelyn Pringle

(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Scoop Independent News and an investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government and corporate America)

[makwaiskwew]

GREAT thread Rabana..xxoo

[rabana]

well stay tuned. its not my personal issue but i thought it needed to be posted here.

[sshenry]

wow - great post! wish I had more thanks to give out

When we lived in Florida there was a family whose son had been reccomended for "mood stabalizing drug therapy" by the school doctor. In fact, the doctor reccomended that the child be given the drugs or not allowed back in the classroom because of his "disruptive" behavior (this was a parochial school mind you, the "disruptions" were nothing more than curiosity and SKADS of questions and high spirits).

The family refused, withdrew their child, and enrolled him in the local public school, where they immediately tested him and put him in the gifted program (advanced placement), eventually skipping him two grades in as many years. He is the same age as my oldest daughter and has been accepted with a full scholarship to Harvard

[David]

Thank you for posting this.

It is true and very sad. Many people grow up suffering emotionally not knowing why due to these drugs. How can a child know. What's worse is that scientists have no clue. They haven't even scratched the surface.

This is a serious injustice to people. Some of them can never find their true identity due to the effects of the drugs.

[Patryc]

cosmic cuddles more great info again no wonder I give you so much of my thanks

[rabana]

i said to someone the other day "adult indigos have been ostracized and persecuted, younger ones are thrown in psych wards and drugged." along with all those other kids...

this is not a personal issue for me but it seemed like an IS issue so i posted it.

[David]

This is how we will bring down the system. Through feeling...ever powerful, yet so gentle.

[Kilik]

Holy fuck that is horrible, the human body is so precious and to fuck someone up at such a young age is disgusting.

[rabana]

happens alot to indigos i'd say, just from being at IS for 4 months.

[rabana]

(big bump) this article from a very conventional source- usa today.

Sudden death in kids, ADHD drugs linked

In a Columbia University study of young people who died suddenly for no apparent reason, 10 -- or 1.8% -- had been taking methylphenidate, sold under the brand name Ritalin.

By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY

Stimulants used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could increase the risk of sudden death in children who have no underlying heart conditions, researchers reported Monday.

Such drugs have carried warnings since 2006 about an increased risk of sudden death in children or teens known to have serious heart abnormalities. But this is the first study to link the stimulants to sudden death in otherwise healthy young people, say officials of the Food and Drug Administration, which helped pay for the research. Further research is needed to confirm the finding, they said.

Columbia University scientists compared stimulant use in 564 young people who suffered sudden unexplained death with that of 564 killed in car accidents. They ranged in age from 7 to 19 and died between 1985 and 1996.

Researchers excluded subjects with identified heart abnormalities or a family history of sudden unexplained death. They interviewed parents and looked at autopsy reports to determine whether the victim had a heart abnormality or had been taking an ADHD stimulant drug.

Of those who died suddenly for no apparent reason, 10 — or 1.8% — had been taking methylphenidate, sold under the brand name Ritalin. Only two, or 0.4%, who died in a car accident had been taking a stimulant, and only one of them had taken methylphenidate.

"It's hard to characterize the results as reassuring," the FDA's Robert Temple said at a news conference. Still, Temple said, it's possible that the study missed stimulant use by the car-accident victims, because the parents of children whose deaths were unexplained might have better recall years later of what drugs they took.

"It's not a robust finding," he said, noting that if only one more automobile victim had been found to have taken an ADHD stimulant, the difference between that group and the sudden unexplained death group would no longer have been statistically significant. But, Temple said, "that doesn't mean that this is off the table and we're not concerned about it anymore."

The FDA is now conducting two studies, one in children and one in adults, whose use of ADHD medications has been increasing, to see whether the drugs are associated with a higher risk of sudden death, heart attack or stroke.

An estimated 2.5 million U.S. children take ADHD stimulants, according to an editorial accompanying the study, published online by the American Journal of Psychiatry.

[sshenry]

Wow - thanks Rabana

It was said once, by someone (can't remember who) that drugs perscribed for mood disorders and other "mental" conditons are for the benefit of society - so that they don't have to deal with someone who doesn't fit the definition of "normal", not for the person they are perscribed for.

[Windlift]

In the state of florida if you dont take rentlin or adh meds and the teacher says that the child is misbehaving and mentions adh meds to you/which is against the law but then who is going to argue with the teacher/explain: that the second time they misbe. they get sent to a police state school nothing the parents can do

and: this is a money making scam by these authority people in office .....private also...and should be stopped and only ones can stop it are the people who have their three jobs and tails between there legs :OBEY!

these are there children!!! they dont need adh meds its like giving a child crack Its bad enough that the military is making crack kits .....

owned private and some by the state of fla...these schools are making money off these children who are normal kids!

Church of Sciencetology is the only church speaking up in this state for these kids with C.D's to show the kids YOU dont need these meds....

indigos cannot use their abilities all drugged up and this is all for reasons to make sure indigos dont succeed in there jobs/missions/something to do'

Do research on how many of these schools are building up in states and cameras in schools on buses on street corners What to wear in schools here uniforms etc... police state schools is what florida is becoming....and soon what america is going to be If the people do not stop it......then were all going to be on a long black train

[Cuquicuchi]

i said to someone the other day "adult indigos have been ostracized and persecuted, younger ones are thrown in psych wards and drugged." along with all those other kids...

this is not a personal issue for me but it seemed like an IS issue so i posted it.

My son was diagnosed bipolar at age 5!!!
I couldn't believe that! but I had no idea what to do and agreed to put him on a very high dosage of meds (I know I have no excuse for what I did ) But then I met the one who is my hubby now who is a psychiatrist (Thank God!) and he told me that he was not Bipolar that he just had some behavioral issues that we could correct without meds, and we agreed to do it together, boy it was a lot of work but we made it! Now he is an honor student, junior varsity swimmer and football, he is just a happy camper!
What we realized in his medical practice is that many parents don't want to deal with the child and they just want to throw it to the doctor to drug him/her so he/she is easy to deal with at home or at school it is so sad!
BTW he doesn't treat children because he says it is the parents who need treatment not the child and unless the parent take responsibility for that is like talking to the wall.
But don't worry there are some parents out there who listen and take responsibility and we have been able to suceed without meds!!! but it's the minority so far

[rabana]

interesting post cuqui, i'm out of thanks. am planning to get back to you on the big duh thread.

[flyingkittycat]

It's very wrong what psychiatrists can get away with. I hope laws go into affect about boundaries for this very topic.

I can't believe what they are giving children starting at age 2 1/2 which can seriously mess up the brain.

This should be illegal. There should be rules that if society says no to drugs and endorses that message then perhaps the message should also be for psychiatric drugs that often have the same effect as the street drugs.

Parents have been told time and time again to trust doctors but at the rate psychiatrists hand out drugs to kids, I think parents should not even think of psychiatrists as valid doctors if the psychiatrist prescribes drugs at very young age and gives diagnosis of bi-polar at toddler age.

Psychiatrists should be held liable for prescribing drugs and these schools should not endorse kids be put on drugs or the child gets no education. Drug companies should not be able to have any say in schools nor should there be an endorsement of kids put on drugs.

Most of the time, children start acting up in schools because they are harassed, bullied, teased and teachers do nothing nor do principals. It's all about convenience instead of patience.

[rabana]

here's another thats just too weird- from naturalnews.com a few months ago:

Psychiatry Still Uses Electroshock Therapy on Children
by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) A recent article published in the Melbourne, Australia paper Herald Sun has drawn attention to the ongoing psychiatric practice of using electroshock therapy on children as young as four years of age.

Electroshock therapy, also known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), is the practice of applying electric shocks to the brain in order to induce seizures and modify behavior by damaging "problematic" portions of the brain.

"After a few sessions of ECT, the symptoms are those of moderate cerebral contusions," said neurologist Sidney Sament. "The patient 'forgets' his symptoms because the brain damage destroys memory traces in the brain, and the patient has to pay for this by a reduction in mental capacity of varying degree."

In the United States, most states allow the use of ECT on young children. Although the procedure is less commonly used for children than for adults, critics argue that it is still used far too freely, considering the potential for lasting brain damage.

"You might think that before any child receives a series of 70 to 170 volts of brain zappings and is thrown into seizures, every other non-traumatic therapy would have been attempted," said clinical psychologist Bruce Levine. "You might think that before using ECT, in addition to trying every type of psychotherapy, there would also be an exhaustive effort to find a therapist with whom a kid might genuinely connect. You might think all this, but you would be wrong."

According to Levine, psychiatrists regularly resort to ECT after only a handful of attempts have been made to modify a child's behavior with drugs.

A study published in early 2007 concluded that persistent cognitive symptoms such as amnesia and slowed mental processing regularly persist in ECT patients six months after the procedure. Yet critics charge that the benefits of the therapy have not been proven -- a 1985 conference on the procedure was unable to produce any evidence of benefit beyond four weeks, and a 1999 study concluded that ECT failed to result in a reduction of suicide rates.

[Cuquicuchi]

mmmm... I've never heard this done to children before. I'll check with my sources and I'll get back to you you know you cannot believe everything that's out there.

[flyingkittycat]

This form of "treatment" electro shock is administered in a place called Judge Rotenberg Center a place for children with mental disabilites this includes autism, aspergers or behavorial differences.

informationliberation - N.Y. report denounces school which punishes troubled and disabled students with electric shocks

Alot of people don't understand why this center is allowed to remain open especially after deaths have occured.

[flyingkittycat]

Here is a you tube explaining.

YouTube - Shocking Children!!! School of Shock, Judge Rotenberg, Psychology, Mind Control Report