According to a U.S. study, spending on stimulants and other psychiatric medications being used to treat young people with hyperactivity and depression have increased significantly.

Characteristics of the study include:

• In a group of children studied between the years of 2000 and 2003, there was a 77 percent increase on the spending of behavioral medications.
• Prescription information was reviewed for 300,000 U.S. youth aged 19 and younger
• Spending on behavioral medications jumped to $6.4 million in 2003--up from $3.6 million in 2000.
• Around 5 percent of the participants in the study took at least one type of behavioral drug.
• The study also found that since 2000 there has been a 142 percent increase in the treatment of autism and other so-called “behavior disorders.”

Supporters of these psychiatric medications believed the increase was due to better access to health care and therefore a higher number of diagnoses. Critics, on the other hand, disagreed and claimed that society had become too dependent on finding a quick fix and overmedicating youth was not the solution.

Research has revealed that the biggest increase was in the amount of money spent on medications to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, particularly among very young children. It was also discovered that hyperactivity drug spending for all children and teenagers has increased by 183 percent, and 369 percent in children ages 4 and younger.

Yahoo! News May 17, 2004