Changes to mental health drug regulations for minors

Psychotropic Drugs for Children and Teens

should changes be made to regulations for mental health drugs to minors? TWO (2) pages Identify topic explain (2) reasons. Include a defensible, relevant thesis statement paragraph. Describe (3) major characteristics audience (official position, decision-making power, current view topic, important characteristics) Describe paper's scope outline major sections.

Should changes be made in regulations governing mental health drugs for minors?

It seems paradoxical: the very drug intended to prevent a particular behavior -- in this case, suicide in teens -- actually has been found to cause it. "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public warning in October 2004 about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior (suicidality) in children and adolescents treated with SSRI antidepressant medications" such as Prozac and Paxil (Antidepressant medications, 2013, NIMH). Children and adolescent brains and bodies are not the same as adults. Yet frequently they are regarded as such by healthcare providers, despite the fact that there is often little empirical evidence to support using psychotropic drugs designed for adults to treat their conditions. This demands great caution and additional monitoring when prescribing psychotropic drugs to teens and children, of all kinds, not just antipsychotics and additional regulation by public health officials is needed to reduce the risk for these vulnerable age groups. Parents must also be more vigilant and less uncritically accepting of accepting advice on the subject of medication from healthcare providers, particularly those who are not psychiatrists. For parents and public health regulators alike who are concerned about children; who are concerned about the increasing influence of drug companies on the treatment of mental illnesses in general; and who seek evidence-based medical evidence regarding how mental health is approached, this is a vitally important issue.

"About 4% of those taking SSRI medications experienced suicidal thinking or behavior, including actual suicide attempts -- twice the rate of those taking placebo, or sugar pills," and at a much higher rate than adults (Antidepressant medications, 2013, NIMH). The reasons for the manifestation of such behaviors are unclear, even to researchers in the field. It may be that taking antidepressants gives teens the additional energy and drive they needed to be a 'completed' suicide which they lacked while depressed or that the occasional anxiety and agitation which can be a side effect of these drugs results in greater suicidal ideation (Cuffe 2012). However, given that sometimes antidepressants are not even prescribed by trained psychiatrists, but by primary care providers who are ill-equipped to do the recommended monitoring of teenage patients, it would seem warranted to place additional requirements upon the types of healthcare providers who can prescribe drugs to teens, specifically limiting psychiatrists alone to do so (Smith 2012: 36).

Another contentious issue regarding prescribing mental health drugs to teens is the off-label use of psychotropic drugs in adolescents and children, specifically prescribing powerful antipsychotic drugs to children with conduct disorders or childhood bipolarity. The latter was a once-rarely diagnosed condition that has seen a spike in diagnosis thanks to the availability of medication to 'treat' it (Report finds off-label use of atypical antipsychotic drugs not supported by evidence for some conditions, 2013, AHRQ). "Mark E. Helm, a Little Rock pediatrician who was a medical director of Arkansas's Medicaid evidence-based prescription drug program from 2004 to 2010, said he had seen 18-month-olds being given potent antipsychotic drugs for bipolar disorder, an illness he said rarely develops before adolescence" (Boodman 2012).