Educational psychologist calls for national review of medicating children to treat behavioural issues

According to the NHS Business Service Authority, some prescriptions of amphetamines for children have increased nearly 120 fold between 1994 and 2009. This is causing ongoing concern amongst some educational and child psychologists.

Chartered Educational Psychologist Dave Traxson will discuss his personal views on this and other factors that appear to show an alarming reliance on medicating children who are perceived to have mental health issues during his presentation today, 13 January 2011, at the Division of Educational and Child psychology annual conference held at Hilton Hotel, Newcastle Gateshead.

Mr Traxson is calling for a national review of the use of medication to treat children's behavioural issues including temporary sleep problems, mild social anxiety and shyness.

Dave Traxson said: "I feel very strongly that the time is right to challenge the growing practice of medicating our children for displaying behaviours and thought processes that until recently would have fallen within the normal range. This pathologisation of normal responses to often demanding situations for children, is in my view insidious and pervasive at this time and threatens to produce a collective societal shift of perspective about childhood which can only be detrimental in the longer term.

'In my opinion, the aim of pharmaceutical companies is to colonise these conditions purely for financial gain and they have popularised the idea that many problems are caused by suggested imbalances in brain chemicals which drives further consumption of their products. We know that overuse of medication potentially causes lifelong damage in areas of the brain and possibly increase drug dependency in adulthood. As a professional working with children this causes me great concern. Further impartial research on these issues is needed and I feel a national review of these worrying practices must be undertaken".

SOURCE alphagalileo.org