The Medicated Child

April 7, 2008 / Add comment

Frontline adopts a pessimistic, even contrarian view of bipolar syndrome diagnoses and treatments, featuring children on anywhere from one to eight medications like antidepressants and antipsychotics. The side effects for these drugs are largely unknown, and Frontline questions whether psychiatrists are too willing to dole out prescriptions and diagnoses; there are plenty of depressing anecdotes, the show points out that all the research being done is funded by drug companies. In the end, the episode reaches no conclusion other than that it is a disheartening issue.