Anyone happen to catch the story the other night on the CBS news where doctors are listing kids as bipolar prescribing heavy hitter medications after receiving large amounts of monies from pharmaceuticals? The number climbed from 10 years ago of 20,000 kids to over 800,000 kids now listed as bipolar.
The sad thing about the whole mess is that the only thing these doctors can be nailed on is not reporting the actual amounts of money and comps that they received from the drug companies, which are in the millions. Conflict of interest is written all over this.
Drug companies need to show growth and shareholder value….this time our kids were tossed to the wolves as a new growth market. When it comes to your child or loved one, don’t just go along in any form of diagnoses in the mental health area. There is no way to prove or disprove a diagnoses as of yet. Hopefully in the near future there will be a combination of blood tests, brain scans or other tests to make it more of an exact science.
I guess someone should have been reading my posts on this subject a year ago when I was saying the exact same thing. It met stiff resistance then that this practice was going on.
Hey Eric........Usually, I watch NBC news, so I missed this story. Thanks for sharing with us.
I have been on the "overdiagnosis" bandwagon for a long time. Hopefully, this will raise lots of "red flags", especially for parents of potential bipolar children. The statistics prove that we are becoming a "bipolar world", and unnecessarily so.
The numbers should be much much lower.
About a year ago, I read an article about a new procedure that's being tested. A simple tissue sample from inside the nose can diagnose and determine exactly what meds a person needs. I'm sure it's down the road, but wouldn't it be great?
Thanks for the information.......Parents Beware!
Judy