teenagers

DISTURBING report finds that 20 million American schoolchildren have been prescribed antidepressants

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Image: DISTURBING report finds that 20 million American schoolchildren have been prescribed antidepressants

In many ways the world is a far more complex, difficult place to live in now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. Social media places children under increasing pressure – and at an ever decreasing age – to look perfect, have limitless “friends” and lead apparently perfect lives. Many parents work longer hours than in previous decades, leaving them with little time and energy to spend with their kids. And children are under immense pressure to perform academically and on the sports field.

In previous years, kids could generally be found playing outside with their friends or chatting to them on the phone, but modern society leaves children isolated from one another, spending more time with virtual “friends” than real-life ones. Many spend most of their time online, hardly ever venturing outside.

This toxic mix of external pressures and isolation can leave children, particularly those struggling through adolescence, feeling depressed and confused. The solution for many parents and healthcare professionals is to simply prescribe them antidepressant medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This “solution” is so widely favored, in fact, that a disturbing report by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights found that around 20 million American schoolchildren have been prescribed these dangerous drugs.

Antidepressant use in children rises sharply in seven years

Antidepressant medications are, in fact, not recommended for children under the age of 18, but you would never know that if you were to judge by the way doctors hand out prescriptions for these drugs like candy.

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According to the Daily Mail, a study recently published in the European Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, which studied antidepressant use in children under the age of 18 in five western countries, found that there was an alarming increase in the number of prescriptions for these drugs between 2005 and 2012.

In Denmark, prescriptions for children increased by 60 percent; prescription numbers soared more than 54 percent in the United Kingdom; in Germany, they rose by 49 percent; the United States saw a 26 percent increase; and there was a 17 percent increase in antidepressant prescriptions for children in the Netherlands during that period.

This is shocking because a 2016 study published in the respected British Medical Journal, which evaluated the mental health of 18,500 children prescribed antidepressant medications, found that not only are the benefits of these drugs “below what is clinically relevant” (i.e. they don’t work), but children taking them are twice as likely to exhibit suicidal or aggressive behaviors than children who do not.

The study also found that the drug manufacturers are not only aware of this fact but that they actively try to hide the risks by labeling suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts as “worsening of depression” or “emotional liability” rather than admitting that they are side effects of the medication.

“Despite what you’ve been led to believe, antidepressants have repeatedly been shown in long-term scientific studies to worsen the course of mental illness — to say nothing of the risks of liver damage, bleeding, weight gain, sexual dysfunction, and reduced cognitive function they entail,” warned holistic women’s health psychiatrist, Dr. Kelly Brogan, writing for Green Med Info. “The dirtiest little secret of all is the fact that antidepressants are among the most difficult drugs to taper from, more so than alcohol and opiates.

“While you might call it ‘going through withdrawal,’ we medical professionals have been instructed to call it ‘discontinuation syndrome,’ which can be characterized by fiercely debilitating physical and psychological reactions. Moreover, antidepressants have a well-established history of causing violent side effects, including suicide and homicide. In fact, five of the top 10 most violence-inducing drugs have been found to be antidepressants.”

This doesn’t mean that our children need to be left to struggle through depression and isolation without any help, however. Experts recommend family, individual and other therapies, lifestyle changes including exercise and dietary changes, and spending more time outdoors with family and friends as healthy, side-effect-free ways to help kids cope.

Learn more about the dangers of antidepressant drugs at Psychiatry.news.

Sources include:

GreenMedInfo.com

Independent.co.uk

DailyMail.co.uk

ScienceDaily.com

Study suggests a direct link between screen time and ADHD in teens

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Image: Study suggests a direct link between screen time and ADHD in teens

Adding to the list of health concerns associated with excessive screen time, one study suggests that there could be a link between the length of time teenagers spend online and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The two-year study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), observed more than 2,500 high school students from Los Angeles.

Digital media and the attention span of teenagers

A team of researchers analyzed data from the teenagers who had shorter attention spans the more they became involved in different digital media platforms for the duration of the experiment.

The JAMA study observed adolescents aged 15 and 16 years periodically for two years. The researchers asked the teenagers about the frequency of their online activities and if they had experienced any of the known symptoms of ADHD.

As the teenagers’ digital engagement rose, their reported ADHD symptoms also went up by 10 percent. The researchers noted that based on the results of the study, even if digital media usage does not definitively cause ADHD, it could cause symptoms that would result in the diagnosis of ADHD or require pharmaceutical treatment.

Experts believe that ADHD begins in the early stages of childhood development. However, the exact circumstances, regardless if they are biological or environmental, have yet to be determined.

Adam Leventhal, a University of Southern California psychologist and senior author of the study, shared that the research team is now analyzing the occurrence of new symptoms that were not present when the study began.

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Other studies about digital engagement have implied that there is an inverse relationship with happiness. The less people used digital media, the more they reported feeling an overall sense of happiness. (Related: The social media paradox: Teens who are always online feel more lonely.)

The researchers concluded that the teenagers might have exhibited ADHD symptoms from the outset due to other factors. However, it is possible that excessive digital media usage can still aggravate these symptoms.

Fast facts about ADHD

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly diagnosed in children. However, it can also be diagnosed in older individuals. ADHD can be difficult to diagnose. Since several symptoms of ADHD are similar to normal childhood behaviors, the disorder itself can be hard to detect.

The symptoms of ADHD may include forgetting completed tasks, having difficulty sitting still, having difficulty staying organized, and having trouble concentrating or focusing.

  • Men are at least three times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than females.
  • During their lifetimes, at least 13 percent of men will be diagnosed with ADHD, as opposed to only 4.2 percent in women.
  • The average age of ADHD diagnosis is seven years old.
  • The symptoms of the condition will usually manifest when a child is aged three to six years old.
  • ADHD is not solely a childhood disorder. At least four percent of American adults older than 18 may have ADHD.

This disorder does not increase an individual’s risk for other conditions or diseases. However, some people with ADHD, mostly children, have a higher chance of experiencing different coexisting conditions. These can make social situations, like school, more difficult for kids with ADHD.

Some coexisting conditions of ADHD may include:

  • Anxiety disorder
  • Bed-wetting problems
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Conduct disorders and difficulties (e.g., antisocial behavior, fighting, and oppositional defiant disorder)
  • Depression
  • Learning disabilities
  • Sleep disorders
  • Substance abuse
  • Tourette syndrome

Minimize your child’s ADHD risk by reading more articles with tips on how to manage their internet use at Addiction.news.

Sources include:

Lifezette.com

Healthline.com

E-Cigarettes: Teens Are Major Market.

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Time to limit sales to 18 and older?

The danger e-cigarettes pose to teenagers appears to be increasing the longer e-cigarettes go unregulated. A study in the January issue of Pediatrics found 29% of teenagers surveyed have tried e-cigarettes – with 62% of those reporting using them in the last month, and 44% of those using them three or more times in the last month. Researchers also found that 67% of respondents considered e-cigarettes to be “healthier” than regular cigarettes.

Lead author Thomas A. Wills, PhD, professor at the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Manoa, pointed out that teenagers may not realize e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is an addictive substance. “One Surgeon General’s report in fact documented that, in several aspects, nicotine is more addictive than heroin,” Wills said.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine has called for FDA regulation on the $2.2 billion e-cigarette industry, and the AMA hasrecommended similar regulations, including an age restriction of 18 for purchasing e-cigarettes.

As e-cigarette use among the total population has doubled every year since 2009, teenagers have mirrored those trends. The National Youth Tobacco Survey reports e-cigarette ever-use among teenagers was up significantly from 4.7% in 2011 to 10.1% in 2012.

There are two possible hypotheses behind the appeal of e-cigarettes to teenagers, according to the study. In one model, e-cigarettes act as a less dangerous alternative to cigarettes and were preferred by teenagers with “conservative and health oriented values.” In another model, teenagers see e-cigarettes as similar to alcohol and marijuana: a way to “rebel against conventional values.”

However, the data was unable to confirm either explanation. Although both notions are plausible, there is little empirical evidence to support or reject either theory at this time, the authors wrote.

Researchers surveyed 1,941 students in three public and two private high schools in Oahu. The mean age of respondents was 14.6 (SD = 0.7), with a 47% to 53% male-to-female demographic breakdown. Parental consent and adolescent ascent were both required to participate in a 40-minute survey, and the response rate was 76%.

To determine the prevalence of e-cigarette use compared with cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana, respondents were asked to determine frequency of use on a scale of 0-6 (0 being “Never” and 6 being “Daily”). E-cigarette ever-use (1-2 times or more) was nearly double that of actual cigarettes (15%) and marijuana (18%), though it ranked second behind alcohol (47%).

The study then examined psychosocial variables divided into categories thought to predict risk-seeking behavior: Social-cognitive risk factors, social-cognitive protective factors, and problem-behavior risk factors. When e-cigarette users were contrasted with users of both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, researchers reported dual users had a higher positive correlation (P>0.001) with social and behavioral risk factors.

Respondents who only used e-cigarettes did not score high on variables such as rebelliousness, sensation seeking, and peer smoker affiliations when compared with dual users, the authors wrote. But because they scored higher on these risk factors than their nonsmoking counterparts, the study determined e-cigarette users likely fall into an “intermediate risk group.”

But when the study crossed e-cigarette users who also frequently used cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana, there was a correlation (P>0.001) with 14 out of 15 psychosocial variables. Statements such as “I like to break the rules,” “Smoking helps you feel more [self-confident]” and “Do any of your friends smoke cigarettes” exhibited the greatest correlation with e-cigarette users who frequently used other substances.

“Our findings suggest that e-cigarettes may be operating to recruit lower-risk adolescents to smoking,” said Wills. He also points out that both cigarette and e-cigarette use has increased among teenagers, which is difficult to reconcile with the contention that tobacco is being put out of business [by e-cigarettes], he said.

The most important limitation of the study may be its location. Hawaii has particularly aggressive advertising for e-cigarettes, and the authors pointed out that may lead to parents seeing e-cigarettes as a more desirable alternative and buying them for adolescents. Other limitations include lack of information about how long teenagers have been using e-cigarettes and that the survey only collected data in one sitting.

“It would be desirable to follow a group of adolescents … and obtain several assessments about e-cigarette use and cigarette use in order to determine how one type of use affects other types of use over time,” Wills said.