Children in the United States take psychotropic medications at a rate three or more times higher than their counterparts in Europe, according to a multi-national study recently conducted on children in the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. In Europe, the rate of children diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders is 1.5 to 2.2 times greater than it is in the US.

The controversial use of antidepressants such as Prozac and stimulants such as Ritalin has been a frequent subject of debate in recent years. This study is an effort to quantify the differences in prescription use in children exhibiting symptoms of these illnesses.

Several factors have been suggested as to why so many prescriptions are taken by American children although more European children are diagnosed with these disorders. Some suggestions include:

• Diagnostic classification systems that differ between continents;
• More US children and teenagers are diagnosed with bipolar disorders than their European counterparts;
• Cost restrictions imposed by European governments;
• More child psychiatrists in the US than in Europe;
• US children are more likely to take two or more psychotropic drugs in a single year;
• Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals, which is allowed in the US but not in Europe; and
• The therapeutic mentality, and its reliance on prescription drugs, of the general culture in the US.

Source: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health