Did Joseph Biederman "invent" pediatric bipolar disorder?
It sure looks that way to me...
via: newsweek.com
Dr. Stuart L. Kaplan writes:
"I have been a child psychiatrist for nearly five decades and have seen diagnostic fads come and go. But I have never witnessed anything like the tidal wave of unwarranted enthusiasm for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children that now engulfs the public and the profession. Before 1995, bipolar disorder, once known as manic-depressive illness, was rarely diagnosed in children; today nearly one third of all children and adolescents discharged from child psychiatric hospitals are diagnosed with the disorder and medicated accordingly. The rise of outpatient office visits for children and adolescents with bipolar disorder increased 40-fold from 20,000 in 1994–95 to 800,000 in 2002–03. A Harvard child-psychiatry group led by Dr. Joseph Biederman, a prominent supporter of the diagnosis, recently insisted, “Juvenile bipolar disorder is a serious illness that is estimated to affect approximately 1 percent to 4 percent of children.”
"I believe, to the contrary, that there is no scientific evidence to support the belief that bipolar disorder surfaces in childhood. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case: the evidence against the existence of pediatric bipolar disorder is so strong that it’s difficult to imagine how it has gained the endorsement of anyone in the scientific community. And the effect of this trendy thinking can have devastating consequences. Such children are regularly prescribed medications that are not effective in kids and have unwelcome side effects." read Mommy, Am I Really Bipolar?
Risperdal, a neuroleptic made by Johnson and Johnson, had been used "off-label" in children for at least a decade before it was approved for any use in children. I know this because in 1995, it was prescribed to my son; for a condition that to this day is not an approved use. Risperdal, or resperidone, is one of the new expensive neuroleptics, called "antipsychotic," drugs prescribed to children for "bipolar disorder" and it seems, virtually any and every other psychiatric label a child or adolescent can be given.
From D. Bunker:
"Risperdal's top 20 side effects reported to MedWatch between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2006:
Death - 308 Cases
Diabetes Mellitus - 176 Cases
Drug Interaction - 176 Cases
Increased Weight - 138 Cases
Leukopenia - 124 Cases
Fall - 123 Cases
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome - 116 Cases
Extrapyramidal Disorder - 109 Cases
Tardive Dyskinesia - 104 Cases
Cerebrovascular Accident - 102 Cases
Convulsion - 99 Cases
Somnolence - 98 Cases
Aggression - 99 Cases
Tremor - 93 Cases
Neutropenia - 91 Cases
Rhabdomyolysis - 88 Cases
Condition Aggravated - 86 Cases
Creatine Phosphokinase Increased - 85 Cases
Psychotic Disorder - 82 Cases
Pneumonia - 82 Cases"
"Annual Sales of Risperdal worldwide per annual reports of Johnson & Johnson, Inc.
1994: $0.172 Billion 1995: $0.343 Billion 1996: $0.502 Billion 1998: $0.588 Billion 1999: $0.892 Billion
2000: $1.083 Billion 2001: $1.845 Billion 2002: $2.146 Billion 2003: $2.512 Billion 2004: $3.05 Billion
2005: $3.552 Billion 2006: $4.180 Billion 2007: $4.697 Billion 2008: $1.309 Billion 2009: $1.425 Billion
2010: $1.50 Billion Total for the period: $29.796 Billion (emphasis mine)
"Testimony at trial indicated that the profit margin for sales of Risperdal was 97% or $28.90 Billion for the period of 1994-2010" (emphasis mine)
Read J&J Recalls 40K Bottles of Risperdal, "It Stinks" to learn more about this neuroleptic drug and the unethical corporate misconduct that made it a bestselling drug for virtually every type of psychiatric diagnosis, despite the lack of clinical research validating prescribing it for any of them.I would like to know why national "consumer and family advocacy" groups are silent about the fraud and corruption that has practically bankrupted the Medicaid and Medicare programs and continues unabated by massive corporate fines? Worse, where is the advocacy or outrage on behalf of those individuals and families who are in fact, the direct victims of corporate greed and psychiatric abuse? Mainstream "mental health" and "anti-stigma" advocacy campaigns and education and advocacy programs in some respects appear to function as public relations and advertising campaigns for their pharmaceutical and psychiatric professional advisers and benefactors. These mainstream advocacy groups fail completely and universally to even acknowledge these victims exist at all. Can it be due to being heavily funded and advised by the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatrists with Conflicts of Interest? Could it be that being "scientifically advised" by psychiatrists whose research methods and results have been discredited/invalidated and whose professional ethics appear to be nonexistent, is not in the best interests of those they are purportedly, "advocating" for?
The Wall Street Journal reported on the lack of ethics and corporate integrity of both Johnson and Johnson and Joseph Biederman in 2008; Biederman currently serves on the "Scientific Advisory Council" for the former Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, which is now calling itself, The Balanced Mind Foundation---an obvious Conflict of Interest, and further evidence of his utter lack of integrity.
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