I was sent an article from the Washington Post by a friend of mine who is a therapist in NJ. The article is called Antipsychotic drugs grow more popular for patients without mental illness, click to read in full. Before I read the article I assumed it was going to tell me about how they are being prescribed to help treat behavioral problems in adolescences , which is terrible in itself, but it gets worse as I read on. It appears that psychiatrists and primary care physicians have been prescribing it for sleep apnea, ADHD, and dementia patients. Giving an anti-psychotic to people who have dementia, is not new to the world of psychiatry and psychology, but sleep apnea? ADHD? For ADHD, that means you are prescribing a powerful dose of medication to a child....really? You think this is bad...the worse is yet. I continued to read, and who else is being prescribed anti-psychotics? BABIES!!! Yup, that's not a typo, babies! In the article a pediatrician had reported that he had seen an 18 month old baby being prescribed an anti-psychotic, and early in the article it had been reported that nursing home aides and facilities have been given the residents these medications as well those of whom that do not have mental illness. The reason that these babies and residents were given these medications were to sedate them. hey mom, dad, try being parents and not throwing pills at them to solve the problem, better yet, physicians there is a reason why you train, use what you learn!
A good reason for the misuse of these medications had little to do with actual treatment and a lot to do with medication companies. It is a multi-billion dollar a year industry for psychotropic drugs alone. I will spare you all the percentages and numbers of how psychotropic medication have increased in the last 5-10 years, that could be due to the increase in population seeking mental health treatment which is a good thing, or it could be for the idiotic and irresponsible practices of prescribers and the medication companies whom often give a "kick back" to psychiatrists and PCP's who use their medications.
Bottom Line: DON'T GIVE THESE MEDICATIONS TO BABIES AND OLD PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY ARE NOISY!!!
Sorry to yell...but its appalling!
Happy Hump day!
YES
I can attest... very true happens more than it should.... And restraints overused as well but that's a slightly different story, Glad im in a field where i can (sometimes) sleep at night
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