Friday, September 5, 2008Pediatric Pharmacology
For exasperated parents of special needs kids, medication has long been available as a last resort, when all other methods failed to help. Recently, though, the trend has been toward trying pharmaceutical intervention earlier in the process – sometimes before or without trying other therapeutic methods. Are our children over-medicated? How young is too young to prescribe drugs for things like cholesterol, ADHD, and bipolar disorder? How can we safely medicate those who truly need it, and what will the future teach us about the long-term side effects of powerful drugs on developing brains?
Related Links:
- Many Children Using Medicine Improperly, Study Says
- ADHD Drug Use for Childhood Obesity Raises Ethical Questions
- Debate Over Children and Psychiatric Drugs
- Preschoolers and Drugs: How Young Is Too Young for Ritalin
