Antipsychotics in Kids: The New York Times Gets it Right - and Wrong

I am the mother of 2 daughters---an 11 year old and a 14 year old.  Both daughters have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. The diagnoses came 3 1/2 years apart.  Both daughters are on antipsychotics.  I am not angered by your article.  I am saddened by it though as it struck a chord with me.  I have been "hinted" at that perhaps "a stronger method of discipline" is all my children need.  I have been told, point blank, that if I would have only taken them to church regularly they would not have these problems.  My oldest daughter wrote a note detailing which people and animals she wanted to kill.  She also had an unhealthy obsession with fire.  That is some very scary stuff for a parent to deal with.  My younger daughter had 3 to 4 hour long uncontrollable rages complete with shrieking, wailing, delusions and occasional violence and that was when she was 6 years old.  Being on the antipsychotic medications has allowed them to reclaim their childhood.  It has allowed me to keep my family sane and together.  It very well might boil down to--if you haven't lived life with mental illness, you just don't know what it is truly like.  I can tell you this:  Antipsychotic medications have saved my young children's lives. 
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Many thanks for writing this. Most of what I have learned about early-onset bipolar has been through people like you, who aren't afraid to speak out. I've said it before. Parents of bipolar kids are my favorite people. You will always have a supporter in me. I will continue to do what I can to get the information out there. Please keep in touch.
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Hi John; This article was truly infuriating. It's not that there is NO problem with drug companies pushing their new products on ALL doctors. The problem is that the repoters -- Gardiner Harris, Benedict Carey and Janet Roberts -- make it sound like it's some kind of drug company "conspiracy" exclusively aimed at harming "children," specifically with those nasty antipsychotics. Shocking. And wrong! As another parent of a bipolar child (onset at birth), I can't say enough good things about how PROPER medication (which includes the antipsychotic Risperdal) has saved my child's life. But THIS is the real point: There are a ton of mediocre and outright BAD doctors in every specialty. I fired three psychiatrists before I settled on the one we've now had for 7 years. And even among the "better" doctors, there is always the pressure for them to prescribe the latest and greatest product that the pharm companies are selling. If I had a dollar for every time I've been waiting in our psychiatrist's office and seen a pharm rep leaving the office, I'd be able to pay for our off-network doctor! But this problem isn't exclusive to psychiatrists, much less child psychiatrists. Many older people I know have developed severe joint pain from their cholesterol-lowering meds. Eventually, they chose to give up the meds to stop the joint pain! But do we see the NYT writing articles "investigating" cardiologists who are pushing cholesterol meds??? NO. So read the NYT article yourself. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/health/10psyche.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 And it strikes you as being rather Scientologistesque, send 'em an email and tell them you don't appreciate their bias.
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John,

So much awareness needs to be raised about early onset mental illnesses. My middle son had symptoms from age 4, we took him to his first psychologist at age 6. We tried EVERYTHING from psychologists ate age 6, neuropsych. exams (he also has epilepsy), p-doc at age 12, therapy, anger management, fire prevention classes, parenting classes and we got the alphabet soup mix diagnosis(es) of ADHD, major depression, ODD, OCD etc. It was not until he was admitted to the psych hospital at age 14 that he was finally diagnosed bp.

He is 21 and at home for the 4th time. His history includes addiction to drugs and alcohol (clean and sober now), he had a child at age 20 (he has 50% custody), many suspensions and 1 expulsion from school, a stint in juvenile detention for carrying a concealed weapon at school, never finished HS (has a GED), physical assaults, fired from several jobs. Despite therapy and meds (5) he continues to have major manic/depressive periods, anxiety that interferes with daily life, paranoia, off and on hallucinations (began at age 8), delusional thinking, MAJOR obsessive and controlling behavior towards any women in his life and significant OCD. Since he was NOT diagnosed for so many years he has developed poor coping skills and personality issues (narcissism). There is NO doubt in my mind that early diagnosis and early treatment(yes with meds) would have alleviated many of the symptoms that are now SO ingrained. He has absolutely no memory of his elementary/middle age school years as well as family events, he was basically struggling to get through the day(as he still does). We did everything right in trying so many professionals and trying to work with the school however early onset bp was so misunderstood no-one believed us when we spoke of how bad it was. We heard "bad parents" many times.

Amazingly enough despite all of these symptoms and the fact his p-doc, voc rehab counselor and REAMS of documentation he has been denied SSI even though he CANNOT work. He was denied at the appeal hearing so now we are faced with an attempt in federal court, slim chance.

By the way, my oldest and youngest son have NO issues and are both suceeding very well (ages 25 and 17). Very, very sad because my middle son would have had a better chance. Pat

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