Children and Psychotropics: Experts speak at Vatican

Vatican City, 11 June 2013: A two-day International Conference on ‘Children and Psychotropics’ is being organized in the Vatican by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers on 14 and 15 June, revealed a Press release on Tuesday.

Leading Experts from around the world will address the Controversy of Children and Psychotropics. Psychiatric medications have emerged as a first line of treatment for emotional and behavioral problems of youth today. Concurrently, the use of psychosocial intervention has fallen. The upcoming Conference at the Vatican examines this trend - making accurate information available in an area typically shrouded in industry marketing—and asks, “Are the rising global prescription rates justified by the clinical trial evidence?”

An interdisciplinary team of the world’s leading authorities, including award winning journalist Robert Whitaker (Anatomy of an Epidemic), acclaimed Harvard psychologist Irving Kirsch (The Emperor’s New Drugs), and renowned psychiatrists Sami Timimi, Giovanni Fava, Joanna Moncrieff, and Pat Bracken will examine and debate the controversy about the safety and effectiveness of psychotropics and other treatments, and conclude that based on the evidence, psychosocial options should be the first choice. Source: VR Sedoc