http://www.physorg.com/news93886342.html

Rebecca"s death has inflamed a long-running debate in psychiatry. Some psychiatrists believe bipolar disorder, which was traditionally diagnosed in adolescence or early adulthood, has become a trendy diagnosis in young children.

"As a clinician, I can tell you it"s just very difficult to say whether someone is just throwing tantrums or has bipolar disorder," said Dr. Oscar B. Bukstein, a child psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

A study of mentally ill children discharged from community hospitals, published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found the proportion of children diagnosed with bipolar disorders jumped from 2.9 percent in 1990 to 15.1 percent in 2000.

A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002 estimated that about 7 percent of elementary school-age children - or approximately 1.6 million youngsters ages 6 to 11 - have been diagnosed with ADHD.

The annual number of U.S. children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, according to a study published last year by researchers at Vanderbilt Children"s Hospital in Nashville, Tenn.
Some child psychiatrists say bipolar disorder may have been under-diagnosed in children for years, partly because several key symptoms are also symptoms of ADHD, including hyperactivity, distractibility and talkativeness.


Hyperactivity....being easily distracted and talking a lot....sounds like a normal set of circumstances for any child.
What is not normal is the situation that has come about in the article. There are far too many neglectful parents in american "Culture" this doctor should have seen the situation more clearly as well and appropriate alerts have gone out to save this little girl from her parents.

The use of pharmaceuticals on children to control behavior is a dangerous proposition. Prescription narcotics can negatively impact both physical and mental development of a child (and as in Rebecca’s case occasionally be deadly).

My son was diagnosed bipolar but really is allergic to milk and chemicals.

Isn't anyone else looking anywhere but to pharmaceuticals to figure out this explosive epidemic of childhood disorders that have behavioral symptoms?

Why are these children denied thorough medical examinations that include sensitivity to pesticides and subtle neurological conditions.

I think that when there are parallel epidemics where symptoms are so closely linked that often it is impossible to make diagnosis that something is wrong.

Parents everywhere are seeing behavior in their children that never existedin their families before. This is not an epidemic due to poor diagnosis capabilities in the past.

Children are getting sicker across the board. Diabetes, brain cancer are up for sure, as is autism. I believe it may be true that ashtma and allergy is also growing.

At the same time we have absolutely no laws in place that protect the environmental quality of the classroom.

Additionally, my child has horrible reaction to dyed medications and I figured this out by myself. When I reported it to my psychiatrist he said that the same finding had been reported by Harvard University. This should be part of the standard of care for all psychiatrists yet it is not. This practice is common in pediatrics but not in pediatric psychiatry. Why not???? Are all the parents who buy Dye Free Benedryl just imagining that their children react better to dye free meds?

Hi,

I am new here and just saw that topic i have a same problem as Sarah said

My son was diagnosed bipolar but really is allergic to milk and chemicals.

Isn't anyone else looking anywhere but to pharmaceuticals to figure out this explosive epidemic of childhood disorders that have behavioral symptoms?

Why are these children denied thorough medical examinations that include sensitivity to pesticides and subtle neurological conditions.

I think that when there are parallel epidemics where symptoms are so closely linked that often it is impossible to make diagnosis that something is wrong.

Parents everywhere are seeing behavior in their children that never existedin their families before. This is not an epidemic due to poor diagnosis capabilities in the past.

Children are getting sicker across the board. Diabetes, brain cancer are up for sure, as is autism. I believe it may be true that ashtma and allergy is also growing.

At the same time we have absolutely no laws in place that protect the environmental quality of the classroom.

Additionally, my child has horrible reaction to dyed medications and I figured this out by myself. When I reported it to my psychiatrist he said that the same finding had been reported by Harvard University. This should be part of the standard of care for all psychiatrists yet it is not. This practice is common in pediatrics but not in pediatric psychiatry. Why not???? Are all the parents who buy Dye Free Benedryl just imagining that their children react better to dye free meds?
[QUOTE]

Layperson medical ideas are usually based on testimonials (n of one). Good physicians practice standard care in accordance with evidence based medicine (extensive body of research data). There is no perfection.