Mind drugs risk harming kids

Children as young as two are being given powerful antipsychotic medications, raising concerns use of the drugs are not being properly monitored and could be putting children at risk of serious side effects.

Figures from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing show 559 WA children were given at least one antipsychotic drug subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2007-08.

Eighty-seven of the children were aged 10 or under, including four two-year-olds.

The figures were obtained by the watchdog Citizens Committee on Human Rights, a group set up by the Church of Scientology.

They reveal that almost 10,000 Australian children aged up to 18 were given PBS-funded antipsychotics in 2007-08 at a cost to the Government of $3.4 million.

The drugs are normally used to treat adults with forms of psychosis such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder and more rarely in children with autism or severe behavioural disorders.

Concerns have been raised the drugs are also being used for unapproved medical reasons to control behavioural problems in children such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

CCHR executive director Shelley Wilkins said the drugs could cause severe adverse reactions in children, including heart and nervous system disorders.

"There needs to be accountability for these potentially dangerous drugs being prescribed to children, especially toddlers," she said.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists' president Louise Newman said in some cases children with significant psychological problems might need the drugs but cautioned against them being seen as a routine treatment.

"They may sometimes be appropriate but they should not be used as a first-line treatment," Professor Newman said. She said there was a lack of national monitoring into the use of antipsychotic medication in children, so it was difficult to know why they were being prescribed.

Labor MP Martin Whitely, who has campaigned against the use of ADHD medication, said the figures were alarming.

He called for a national inquiry into the use of psychotropic drugs in children.

"We seem to be seeing a growing medicalisation of behavioural problems in children which can amount to a type of chemical straight-jacket," Mr Whitely said.