Antipsychotic drug crisis: Kids as young as three prescribed powerful medication

Children as young as three are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs in a trend which has reportedly left one eight-year-old boy with breasts and a 12-year-old with Parkinson’s disease.

Children as young as three are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs with schoolkids “bombed out of their brains”, experts warned.

One 10-year-old boy gained 19kg and couldn’t stay awake in the classroom, an eight-year-old boy grew breasts and a 12-year-old girl developed Parkinson’s disease having been prescribed risperidone, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. And 57 people, including adults, have died while using the drugs.

While they can be a lifeline for some children with severe disruptive behaviour including autism and achisophrenia, ­antipsychotic drugs are being prescribed off-label as a “quick fix” for behavioural problems, respected consultant pharmacist Manya Angley said.

“Young people have a lot of living to do and the earlier a child starts on these drugs, the more they pose a risk to the ­developing brain,” Dr Angley said. “They don’t address underlying problems. Some children are being bombed out of their brains.”

An Adelaide University study revealed antipsychotic medication prescriptions soared by 63 per cent between 2011 and 2018. By 2019, 23,937 Australian kids aged between 0-17 were on antipsychotic drugs, according to the Department of Human Services.

Risperidone is one of the drugs being prescirbed to young patients, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Children in NSW are being prescribed more antipsychotic drugs than anywhere in the country, 42 per cent higher than Queensland which is the second highest.

The latest NSW statistics for risperidone, the most ­commonly-prescribed anti-­psychotic used in 73 per cent of cases and the only one approved by the TGA, show it was given to 446 children aged between 0 and six in 2015.

Experts have described the prescription trend as a ‘quick fix’ for disruptive behavious which fails to address the cause of the problem.

Dr Angley called for more doctors to refer families to pharmacists to review their medication. “There could be pressure on the doctors from teachers, from families who haven’t been able to sleep ­because of disruptive behaviour and we don’t monitor the side effects as well as we should,” she said.

The drugs are being overprescribed because paediatricians and psychiatrists have become so used to using them, child psychiatrist Jon Jureidini said. “Risperidone is an antipsychotic which is a bit of a misnomer because it implies it is a successful treatment for psychosis like an antibiotic is a treatment for infection.

“But they are very powerful cognitive and emotional numbing agents.

“Risperidone has been licensed for use for severe disruptive behaviour in children and that has led to a lessening of people’s caution in the use of what is a dangerous drug.

Both Dr Jureidini and Dr Angley called for more behaviour therapy before prescribing drugs.