Medical Anthropology (ANG 6737) » Pharmaceuticals http://gravlee.org/medanthro Course website for Fall 2009 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:14:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 The rise of psychiatric drugs for kids http://gravlee.org/medanthro/2008/01/14/the-rise-of-psychiatric-drugs-for-kids/ http://gravlee.org/medanthro/2008/01/14/the-rise-of-psychiatric-drugs-for-kids/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:30:20 +0000 Lance Gravlee http://gravlee.org/medanthro/2008/01/14/the-rise-of-psychiatric-drugs-for-kids/ FrontlineLast week, the PBS series Frontline aired its latest documentary, The Medicated Child. The program starts from the fact that some six million children in the United States are taking psychiatric drugs, yet we know very little about how these drugs work in children or how they affect developing brains.

It’s a remarkable—and often frightening—story that some aspiring medical anthropologist ought to write a dissertation about. Among the issues that deserve attention are the medicalization of normal childhood behavior, the influence of the pharmaceutical industry in child psychiatry, and the biological consequences of prescribing drugs that were not designed for kids.

You can watch the full program online. What other questions does it raise for you?

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