Medicating Children

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Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics and Humanities, Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University College of Law (courtesy); Associate Faculty, The Bioethics Program, Union Graduate College—Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Editor's Note: Numbers in brackets in the text refer to pages in the reviewed work.

Notes

¹Proclamation No. 6158, 55 Fed. Reg. 29,553 (July 20, 1990).

²Examples in the literature abound. For an interesting overview, see Ernest Lawrence Rossi, The Psychobiology of Mind-Body Healing: New Concepts of Therapeutic Hypnosis (2d ed. 1993).

³Mark Olfson et al., National Trends in the Use of Psychotropic Medications by Children, 41 J. Am. Acad. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 514 (2002); Benedict Carey, Charges in the Death of a Girl, 4, Raise Issue of Giving Psychiatric Drugs to Children, N.Y. Times, Feb. 15, 2007, at A20; Frontline: The Medicated Child (PBS Television broadcast Jan. 8, 2008).

⁴Much of the controversy related to autism has centered on a debate among key stakeholders over its causes, with a focus on early childhood vaccination. For an interesting turn of events in this regard, see Claudia Wallis, Debunked, Time, Feb. 15, 2010, at 18. The Carey article, supra note 3, describes a different noteworthy case: the death of a young girl diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder at age 4. See also Gabrielle A. Carlson, Treating the Childhood Bipolar Controversy: A Tale of Two Children, 166 Am. J. Psychiatry 18 (2009).

⁵That the release of DSM-V is pending as of the writing of this essay, and that its approach still creates controversy, highlights how reality does not always match certain hopes or intents.

⁶By 2000, three-quarters of children with ADHD were diagnosed by a non-mental health trained physician. [136]

⁷Persons with mental health disorders have self-identified under a variety of labels, including ex-patients, survivors, and consumers, among others.

⁸For more information on the consumer movement, see U.S. Dep't of Health & Human Services, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary x-xiii (1999).

⁹Marilyn Elias, Conflicts of Interest Bedevil Psychiatric Drug Research, USA Today, June 3, 2009, at 10B; Liz Kowalczyk, Senator Broadens Inquiry into Psychiatrist: Suggests MGH Doctor Was Biased in Research, Boston Globe, Mar. 21, 2009, at B1; Craig Schneider, Emory Scientist to Leave School, Atl. J.-Const., Oct. 31, 2009, at 1A.

¹⁰Sandra Nutley & Jeff Webb, Evidence and the Policy Process, in What Works? 25-6 (Huw T.O. Davies et al. eds., 2000).

¹¹Carol H. Weiss, The Many Meanings of Research Utilization, 39 Pub. Admin. Rev. 426 (1979); Shelley Bowen & Anthony B. Zwi, Pathways to “Evidence-Informed” Policy and Practice: A Framework for Action, 2 PLoS Med. e166, 0600 (2005); Ian Sanderson, Is It “What Works” that Matters? Evaluation and Evidence-Based Policy-Making, 18 Research Papers in Educ. 331 (2003).

¹²Amy T. Campbell, Therapeutic Jurisprudence: A Framework for Evidence-Informed Health Care Policymaking, Int'l J.L. & Psychiatry (forthcoming 2010).

¹³Bruce J. Winick, The Jurisprudence of Therapeutic Jurisprudence, 3 Psychol., Pub. Pol., & L. 184 (1997).

¹⁴ Id.

¹⁵David B. Wexler, Practicing Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Psycholegal Soft Spots and Strategies, in Practicing Therapeutic Jurisprudence 48 (Dennis P. Stolle et al. eds., 2000).

¹⁶Campbell, supra note 12.

¹⁷Martha J. Farah et al., Neurocognitive Enhancement: What Can We Do and What Should We Do?, 5 Nature Rev. Neurosci. 421 (2004); Dan Larriviere et al., Responding to Requests from Adult Patients for Neuroenhancements: Guidance of the Ethics, Law and Humanities Committee, 73 Neurol. 1406 (2009); see also Margaret Talbot, Brain Gain: The Underground World of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs, New Yorker, Apr. 27, 2009, at 32.

¹⁸Sanderson, supra note 11; see also Nick Black, Evidence Based Policy: Proceed with Care, 323 Brit. Med. J. 275 (2001).

¹⁹Bowen & Zwi, supra note 11.