5.4 Dark Side of SSRIs: Why are We Medicating our Children?

Renegade Psych

In 1987, roughly 0.2% of American kids were taking psychiatric medications. Now, over 15% are taking psych meds, with some estimates much higher than that; the majority of these are SSRIs. Dr. Healy gives us the inside scoop on how companies like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline manipulate data for FDA approval and wonders what the effects of so many SSRI prescriptions are on the next generation. Some of the manipulated efforts include labeling children with bad side effects as having an 'intercurrent illness,' thereby excluding them from the final clinical trial data, labeling a suicide as 'death by burns' because it took 5 days for the individual to die from his injuries, letting the placebo group 'cross-over' into the SSRI group after the trial was completed then logging any suicidal events that occur as a placebo-related suicidal event, and lumping serious behavioral effects in with more common neurological effects like headaches and dizziness to evade statistical significance.

If you don't believe Dr. Healy, ask yourself what motivation he has to report this. Why would other clinicians agree with his findings. Who has more to lose here by revealing the truth about this class of medications. Other than good patient care and concern for his patients, what movitations would so many clinicians have to sound the alarm on the problems with SSRIs? If protecting our adult population isn't motivating enough to make some noise about this problem... maybe protecting our kids is...

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