“Tens of thousands of children on psychotropic drugs”, this is one of the points raised by a report by the High Council for the Family, Childhood and Age (HCFEA) – an advisory body to the Prime Minister. Entitled “When children are bad, how to help them”, the report, published on Monday March 13, alerted to the increase in the consumption of psychotropic drugs (drugs used to treat mental disorders) among children and adolescents. A document that has raised many criticisms from child psychiatrists.
According to the HCFEA, the need for care is increasing but the therapeutic offer is decreasing, which “would favor, by default, medical treatment at the expense of psychotherapy”. Between 2014 and 2021, the consumption of psychotropic drugs among 6-17 year olds would have increased by 48.5% for antipsychotics, 62.6% for antidepressants, 78% for psychostimulants, 155.5% for hypnotics and sedatives, according to the report, which is based on prescription data.
Olivier Bonnot, child psychiatrist at the Nantes University Hospital and general secretary of the National College of Psychiatric Universities, denounces a report “alarmist”, as well as a “demonization of drugs and stigmatization for young people who take them”.
Sylviane Giampino, psychologist and president of the council for childhood and adolescence of the HCFEA, assures her that the report was not incriminating but wondered about “the imbalance between the different types of aid”. ” The consumption would therefore increase twice as fast in children as in adults., underline Mme Giampino, who is worried about taking psychotropic drugs “which could affect 5% of the pediatric population”. A “hypothetical data” to put into perspective, “the prevalence of mental disorders in children being around 20%”shade Diane Purper-Ouakil, child psychiatrist at Montpellier University Hospital.
Lack of funds
In reality, several factors contribute to this increase. “The psychological and psychiatric suffering of young people is increasing, therefore, by a mechanical effect, so are the prescriptions”, explains Olivier Bonnot. At the same time, it is only for about fifteen years that psychotropic drugs have been prescribed to children. “Inevitably, when you start from very little and when you start prescribing a little more, the numbers explode”tempers the child psychiatrist. “Studies showing the effectiveness of certain drugs on symptoms have also multiplied”, slice Diane Purper-Ouakil. This is particularly the case of methylphenidate, a drug used in attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD), she explains. “For other drugs, the available scientific data are, on the contrary, insufficient to justify a broad prescription”, she adds.
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