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How safe are the drugs used to treat ADHD? And are they over-prescribed?Every day about 50,000 Australian children take drugs to counter ADHD, yet there is still strong debate in medical circles about whether we are doing the right thing by our children.The debate will be an ongoing discussion at a key international infant, child and adolescent mental health conference that gets underway in Melbourne today. Larry Greenhill, a psychiatry professor from Colombia University, discusses the actual risk to children, in light of bans in the United Kingdom, and the United States Food and Drug Administration highlighting new dangers for commonly used psychotropics, including suicide, heart problems and psychosis. Jon Jureidini, from the Women and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, expresses strong concern about the widespread use of pharmaceuticals. “I’m sceptical about the use of medication and the status of ADHD as a disorder.” Susan Selwyn, Clinical Psychologist and conference spokesperson, said drugs need not be the treatment of choice, especially when early psychological intervention with children and their parents was effective and safe. “Despite the shortage of services, and the pressures on medical practitioners, drugs are not the preferred treatment. This is quite apart from the questionable wisdom of advocating the drugs for the developing brain of a young person.” The World Congress of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions meets every four years. This is the 17th congress, with more than 1000 delegates from 45 countries meeting for five days in Melbourne.
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