The Food and Drug Administration's announcement Friday that the antidepressant drug Prozac is capable of alleviating signs of depression in children ages 8 and older may be all this country needs to further justify its love affair with prescription drugs.
There is no question that adult prescription drug use is on the rise in this country, but what is frightening is how rapidly the number of children - most of whom cannot even spell the words "Prozac" or "Ritalin" - are taking such drugs.
According to IMS Health, a Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical research firm, from 1996 to 1997, the number of children ages 5 and under taking anti-depressants such as Prozac climbed from 8,000 to 40,000 - a 500-percent increase in usage prior to the drugs having undergone recent pediatric testing.
Yet why should physicians stop with toddlers? During the same 12-month period, IMS Health reported that the total number of youngsters 17 and under who were prescribed anti-depressants rose by more than 120,000 - from 669,000 to 792,000.
Why it is not rare for doctors to prescribe these drugs to children, perhaps it's time for parents to start questioning their MDs before being handed a verdict on their child's behavioral problems in the form of an expensive medication.
With what the surgeon general reports is a 700-percent drug increase in school-age children since 1990, the underlying problem may be hidden in the ethical issues that relate to the parenting, education and psychology of today's youth - paying attention to kids instead of ignoring them with the quick-fix of prescription drugs.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a CNN medical correspondent, reported last year that while about 2 million school-aged children carry the diagnosis of ADHD (the hyperactivity disorder commonly helped by Ritalin), 4 to 6 million kids were being treated with medications for the disorder.
Think for a minute ... when you were in grade school, how many kids did you know who were on Ritalin? I can remember - at the most - perhaps one or two. But today, every third kid with a SpongeBob backpack is popping the little white pill.
And at what cost? Drugs such as Ritalin are intended to be prescribed by expert physicians adhering to strict diagnosis criteria. But with the skyrocketing number of children taking the drug, just how strict can such criteria be?
I understand there is a small percentage of children who may desperately need drugs in order to overcome behavioral problems - be it ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression. But what I struggle with is why so many kids - so-called "borderline" cases - are being given these medications.
To a certain degree, aren't most children what you would call hyperactive? I spent the holidays with twin nephews and two young nieces and was exhausted by their unstoppable energy level.
But that's what is great about little ones ... their daily love affair of life, their youthful optimism and their remarkable imaginations.
How sad it is to see so much of that creativity stifled today by drugs that may in the long-run end up doing more harm than good.
Write to Gail at glkoch@bsu.edu
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