Poorer Children More Likely To Get Antipsychotics

krou writes "A new study by a team from Rutgers and Columbia has discovered that poorer children are more likely to be given powerful antipsychotic drugs. According to the NY Times (login required), 'children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts.' It raises the question: 'Do too many children from poor families receive powerful psychiatric drugs not because they actually need them — but because it is deemed the most efficient and cost-effective way to control problems that may be handled much differently for middle-class children?' Two possible explanations are offered: 'insurance reimbursements, as Medicaid often pays much less for counseling and therapy than private insurers do,' and because of 'the challenges that families in poverty may have in consistently attending counseling or therapy sessions, even when such help is available.' The study is due to be published next year in the journal Health Affairs." The full article is available behind a paywall from the first link. The lead author of the study said he "did not have clear evidence to form an opinion on whether or not children on Medicaid were being overtreated."

Comments

Re:Confounding Variables

[Runaway1956]

Hmmm. I've observed for decades that parenting skills seem to be people's lowest priority in life. I'm guilty, my parents were guilty, and many, many of my co-workers and associates are guilty. No one wants to take the TIME to work with their kids. And, parenting is a full time job - you can't spend 1/3 or more of your time on a job, a couple hours commuting each day, attend a couple meetings/ball games, spend an hour or two at the bar, and still find time to spend with your kids. Especially since the kids have their own routines that just never seem to mesh with yours. You find an hour or three to spend with the kid, and he has somewhere to go, something to do, a girl to see, or whatever.

Upper class or lower class, I see the same thing. Everyone has to go, go, go - they are busy with SOMETHING all day, every day - even if it's trying to score the next fix for their habit.

Is it any wonder that kids have problems? Couple that with our own unwillingness to spend time working problems out, and yes, drugs are over prescribed for the kids.

We've forgotten what it's like to be kids, don't know how to teach kids, and we're just annoyed that the kids are around to bother us - so we offer them some drugs that will change their conduct, and make them quieter, therefore more tolerable.

To really fix the problem, we need to slow society down a few notches. I've mentioned in another thread that grandparents serve a vital function in a healthy society. Today's grandparents are self centered, retiring to Florida or California at the earliest opportunity, rather than being part of the family. A retired person has little more than time - time that can be spent with the kids, helping them to understand the world, and teaching them to deal with adversity. Or, helping them with more mundane things, like algebra, or archery, or learning to drive.

Our culture is crazy - why shouldn't the kids be just as crazy?

IMHO, there are few conditions that can't be dealt with through patience, discipline, and love. Drugs aren't going to "fix" any problem a kid has. At best, he'll be turned into a zombie for as long as the drugs last, then he comes back to reality, with all the same problems.

But, don't try to sell those ideas to the big pharmaceutical companies. You'll be branded a heretic.