Laws – child use of antidepressants up four-fold

David Laws, MP for Yeovil constituency, has obtained figures that show the use of antidepressants and other drugs for behaviour control among schoolchildren has more than quadrupled in the last decade.

The figures, released by the Government in an answer to a parliamentary question tabled by David Laws, show that GPs are prescribing pills in record numbers to combat stress, violent behaviour and tiredness.

Under-16s were prescribed drugs for mental health problems more than 631,000 times last year, compared to 146,000 in the mid-Nineties. The findings come despite the publication of research showing that children given antidepressants run a higher risk of self-harm and are more likely to attempt suicide.

The figures, from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, show a huge year-on-year increase in medication prescribed for depression, behaviour control and severe mental disorders. Behaviour-altering drugs rose ten-fold in a decade. These include Ritalin, for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Modafinil, for daytime sleepiness.

Prescriptions in this drug group for under-16s rose from 48,264 in 1996/97 to 454,797 in 2006/07. Among 16- to 18-year-olds in full-time education there was a rise from 2,058 to 40,339. According to figures on anti-depressants, 109,535 prescriptions were made for under-16s in 2006/07, compared to 78,353 a decade ago.

David Laws said:

"There has been a massive increase in the use of drugs to control children’s behaviour.

"In a sense, this shows some of the pressure which many youngsters are under – there is a significant minority of children who grow up with behavioural problems. I’m concerned that instead of trying to treat the causes and create a more stable and supportive environment for young people, we think we can solve these problems by prescribing a pill.

"The Government should be addressing the causes of these problems rather than just treating the symptoms.”

Notes to Editors

1. The Question and Answer can be found in full here http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2007-07-19a.149151.h&s=section%3Awrans+speaker%3A11036#g149151.q0

ENDS

Category: Constituency News