Antipsychotics Have Dramatic Consequences in Kids, Study Shows
Doling out antipsychotic to kids for the first time can be a case of the cure being worse than the disease. Researchers found children can experience dramatic weight gain and insulin resistance just weeks after taking the drugs for the first time, Medscape.com reports. Lead researcher, John W. Newcomer, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Miami, tells Medscape that prescribing antipsychotics has become trendy in the past 15 years or so — even though there is no sudden epidemic of schizophrenia in children. “The increase was due to the rising use of antipsychotics for disruptive behavior disorders,” he says.