(SOURCES: Kathleen Merikangas, Ph.D., senior investigator and
chief, genetic epidemiology branch, U.S. National Institute of
Mental Health; Mark Olfson, M.D., professor, clinical
psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City;
David Rubin, M.D., co-director, PolicyLab, Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia, and associate professor, pediatrics, University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; Dec. 3, 2012, Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online ) MONDAY, Dec. 3
(HealthDay News) -- A large new study challenges the notion that
too many U.S. teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) and other mental health conditions are
prescribed psychiatric drugs, when in fact only 14 percent of
such adolescents receive them. Concerns that drugs like Ritalin
have been inappropriately prescribed to children and adolescents
are based on anecdotal evidence or the results of studies that
didn't use clinical information but instead only reviewed
prescription databases, the researchers expla