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Number of US Kids on Behavioral Drugs Triples

The May 2002 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that the number of children using psychotropic medications for depression, various emotional/behavioral conditions and the dubious condition ADD/ADHD has tripled in the last decade.

Overall, 14 children per 1,000 were using the medications in 1987. By 1996, that number had increased to 39 children per 1,000.

Breaking the numbers down even more specifically, the researchers found that the number of children using Ritalin and Adderall, used for ADD, quadrupled from 6 per 1,000 to 24 per 1,000 between 1986 and 1996.

Children using antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft rose from 3 per 1,000 to 10 per 1,000 for the same time period.

Lead researcher Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York City summarized the study by saying “An important challenge ahead lies in determining the appropriateness (and ultimately the effectiveness) of the care provided to a large number of children and adolescents who receive prescribed psychotropic medications each year.”

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