The Medicated Child

The differences between ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and BPD (Bipolar Disorder) are becoming slimmer and slimmer. It is said that twenty-three percent of children diagnosed with ADHD, also have BPD. In America, one million children were diagnosed with BPD. "Frontline" interviews families with children treated with many different types of medications for their BPD. Many of these families put their children on medication that was not formerly tested on children, but adults. In 1997, the Clinton administration made studies mandatory for children medications. Throughout these studies, the Food & Drug Administration found that children had a remarkably different brain pattern than adults. Many drugs that children were taking had increased suicidal tendencies by four percent. This led to the placement of a "black box" on all labels of medicines that may increase this risk in children.

Jacob was five years old when he was diagnosed with ADHD. By ten years old, he was taking eight different types of medications. At age thirteen, he was diagnosed with BPD. Now at age sixteen, Jacob has ticks (uncontrollable shakes) and must change his dosages at every growth spurt. The ticks should have stopped when Jacob stopped taking stimulants, but because the doctors did not test the drugs before giving them to Jacob, they still remain.

DJ is a four year old taking medication known as "atypicals" (anti-psychotics). Side effects of these drugs include insatiable desires to eat, drooling, and ticks. The insatiable desire to eat can cause children to gain up to one hundred pounds and develop Diabetes. DJ's doctor chooses the diagnosis before he even knows what will happen. He calls it an "experiment" and a "gamble."

At five years old, Jessica was having morbid thoughts, extreme aggression, grandiosity, feelings of euphoria, and two to three weeks of depression every once in awhile. These are all signs of adult BPD. Now at age twelve, she still has these symptoms and is taking medication. Her doctor has to decide what is a typical stress for a pre-teen and what is caused by her BPD.