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- Feb 10, 2007
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I was wondering if any of you are in or thinking of going into child psych or even on your child psych rotations-Have you every had an ethical problem treating kids? For example one of the most prescribed drugs is the amphetamine dervis-adderall, ritalin, concerta-all of the like stimulants. Now our common physiology and medicine knowledge tells us (well atleast me) that pumping in stimulants from the age of 6 sometimes and possibly them staying on it for 20-40 years (now with adults staying on more and more) that just is a recipe for all sorts of bad things to happen with BP, ischemia everywhere-etc-you guys know just like the ill-effects of cocaine/meth to a smaller degree-especially over that lenght of time.
Even with the new things that come out, such as ablify for example. I see TONS of that prescribed to kids now for all sorts of things and there is such little data on how most drugs in general effect kids over their lifetime and I guess an inner feeling does not feel right about giving kids meds that potentially have bad long term effects.
Some argue it is worth it because they need the drugs-but how many kids that are pumped full of lots of drugs really are doing "well" in society anyway ya know. Yes a little bit of ritalin or something helps many kids I am sure but other than that, kids on 1 or more AD/s, plus some anxiolitic and bam-the kid is so overmedicated it is unlikely they are that functional anyway.
Anyway, I am not judging meds and children, I know currently they have their place but I guess I just do not want to feel responsible for a kid's possible ill effects later down the line.
Adults are quite different as there are MUCH more studies, especially long term studies on adults and lets face it-the adult and child are just different specimens considering their brains.
Anyway just a thought
Even with the new things that come out, such as ablify for example. I see TONS of that prescribed to kids now for all sorts of things and there is such little data on how most drugs in general effect kids over their lifetime and I guess an inner feeling does not feel right about giving kids meds that potentially have bad long term effects.
Some argue it is worth it because they need the drugs-but how many kids that are pumped full of lots of drugs really are doing "well" in society anyway ya know. Yes a little bit of ritalin or something helps many kids I am sure but other than that, kids on 1 or more AD/s, plus some anxiolitic and bam-the kid is so overmedicated it is unlikely they are that functional anyway.
Anyway, I am not judging meds and children, I know currently they have their place but I guess I just do not want to feel responsible for a kid's possible ill effects later down the line.
Adults are quite different as there are MUCH more studies, especially long term studies on adults and lets face it-the adult and child are just different specimens considering their brains.
Anyway just a thought