{"id":126647,"date":"2025-06-02T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T10:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=126647"},"modified":"2025-06-02T16:18:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T20:18:01","slug":"cchr-warns-millions-of-children-exposed-to-risky-psychiatric-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/cchr-warns-millions-of-children-exposed-to-risky-psychiatric-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"CCHR Warns: Millions of Children Exposed to Risky Psychiatric Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 2, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — A federal assessment of children\u2019s health has identified the widespread prescribing of psychotropic drugs to U.S. youth as a \u201cpublic crisis\u201d driven by industry profit motives, flawed science, and systemic conflicts of interest. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anti-anxiety drugs were leading the surge.[1] According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR)<\/a>, a mental health industry watchdog, this is fueling a psychotropic drug market that reaps $22.6 billion annually.<\/p>\n

\"CCHR
Image caption: \u201cProfit-driven psychiatry is putting children at risk with no science to justify diagnoses or drugs.\u201d \u2013 Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International.<\/em><\/p>\n

CCHR advised parents to become better informed about the risks of psychotropic drugs, including benzodiazepines or anti-anxiety drugs prescribed to children. CCHR offers a 16-page educational booklet, Psychiatric Drugs & Your Child\u2019s Future<\/em><\/a>, and the documentary Dead Wrong<\/em><\/a>, which features bereaved parents who lost children to psychiatric drug effects, especially antidepressants\u2014black box-warned for suicide in 2004, more than 15 years after Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.<\/p>\n

HHS reported that prescriptions for stimulants rose 250% between 2006 and 2016. By 2022, 11% of all children\u2014and nearly 25% of boys\u2014had a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), despite no medical test to confirm the behavioral symptoms. Long-term trials of ADHD drugs show no academic, behavioral, or social benefit beyond 14 months\u2014and a loss of height averaging one inch. Teen use of antidepressants increased 1,400% between 1987 and 2014, and over 2 million prescriptions were written for adolescents in 2022 alone.[2]<\/p>\n

Antipsychotic drug use among children grew 800% between 1995 and 2009, with 66% prescribed off-label\u2014including for ADHD and \u201caggression.\u201d Antipsychotics in adolescent boys may cause up to 5x more gynecomastia (male breast growth); 4x more extrapyramidal effects (movement disorders); and 6\u20138x more weight gain than placebo. Meanwhile, serious side effects\u2014including seizures, cardiac issues, male breast growth, and prolonged withdrawal syndromes\u2014are widely documented.[3]<\/p>\n

CCHR, which has tracked what it calls mass-prescribed drug child abuse since its founding in 1969, said the situation is even more dire than the HHS report reveals. Using data from IQVia\u2019s Total Patient Tracker Database for 2020, CCHR found:<\/p>\n