More children than ever being prescribed Valium
CHILDREN are being prescribed record levels of anti-anxiety drugs such as Valium, statistics show.
The numbers have soared by almost two thirds (57 per cent) over the past four years and increased sharply since the beginning of the pandemic.
There are currently 350 approvals for the drugs issued every day on the NHS in England.
Released in a House of Lords written question, the figures come amid further warnings from GPS that they are increasingly relied upon to care for the mental health of children and adolescents when they should be eligible for specialist help.
The data was called “shocking” by a top psychiatrist, who says a generation are being “over-medicalised” and landed with diagnoses that could blight their lives.
Another leading expert said the increased use of the drugs was both “staggering and dangerous” – suggesting the pills are being handed out “to patch up” the lack of proper mental health services.
Lord Lothian, the former Conservative Defence Minister Michael Ancram, who campaigns for better mental health, discovered that the number of under-18s prescribed anti-anxiety medication had risen to 122,181 in 2021/22 from 96,756 in 2019/20 and 77,696 in 2017/18.
The drugs are classed as hypnotics, designed to help with sleep disorders, and as anxiolytics, used to treat anxiety-related or anxiety disorders. These include Librium, or benzodiazepine, and Valium, or diazepam, and can be highly addictive.
Marcantonio Spada, a Professor of Addictive Behaviours and Mental Health – who co-developed national guidelines on how to help patients withdraw from antianxiety drugs – said: “The numbers of under-18s being given these drugs is staggering and extremely worrying.
“We know these drugs are incredibly addictive and people become dependent on them very easily.
“The data show the biggest increases in these prescriptions have been between 2021 and 2022, during the pandemic.
“Children were locked down for a long time, subjected to fear-based messaging, and not allowed to go to school or socialise. Research shows the psychological distress has been very high.”
Prof Spada added: “These drugs are very dangerous and children can become dependent on them for life.
“I am concerned that these prescriptions are being used as a patch-up exercise as the system can’t cope with the volume of young people now presenting with mental health problems. But the drugs do not solve the problems and have the potential to cause serious long-term addiction.
“Who will take care of these people when they try to come off the drugs?”
Professor Sami Timimi, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Director of Medical Education in the NHS in Lincolnshire, said: “These statistics are shocking. I don’t think there has been a generation as pathologised as this one, which is really worrying.
“If you go down the route of increasing diagnosis and treatment and increasing medications, you are setting people up for potentially a lifelong struggle thinking that there is something horribly wrong inside them that they somehow need to suppress or control.”
He feels that youngsters are struggling with “tough” experiences such as losing friendships, falling in love and failing exams because they had limited time with friends and social groups after Covid hit.
“They, their parents and teachers are interpreting this as a sign of stress,” he said, “but there are more ordinary ways of engaging with people who are in distress without interpreting it as a sign of possible mental disorder that requires some sort of special expertise.
“We shouldn’t be over-medicalising it.” Separate data shows antidepressant prescriptions for children aged five to 12 rose by more than 40 per cent between 2015 and 2021, according to figures obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal.
The rates peaked in March 2020, during the first lockdown, at 2,031 – a 15 per cent increase on March 2019.
In the same month, the number of unique child patients aged up to 17 years who were prescribed antidepressants reached a peak in England, comprising 17,902 females and 9,855 males.
Olly Parker, head of external affairs at Youngminds, said: “These figures are yet another alarming sign of the crisis in mental health services for young people.
“Record numbers are trying to access support and very often find the options are limited.
“Many young people are really struggling to get access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and, even if they do get accepted for care, support can be minimal.
“Medication can play an important role in helping a young person manage their mental health but should never be a substitute for talking therapies such as counselling.
CRUSADE FIGHTING FOR OUR CHILDREN ‘These drugs are very dangerous and children can become dependent on them for life’
“Long wait times and high thresholds for treatment may mean that GPS feel under pressure to prescribe medication, but it shouldn’t be used as a sticking plaster for poor access to other forms of support.
“We desperately need extra investment in mental health services, especially in early support.”
Senior coroner Penelope Schofield has warned that NHS mental health services are failing young people.
Her comments followed the death of 14-year-old Roby∑ Skilton from Horsham, West Sussex, who hanged herself in a park in May last year.
Despite concerns about her mental health, she did not get a face-to-face consultation and was continually turned down for assessments due to the pandemic.
In her conclusion, Ms Schofield concluded the NHS was guilty of “neglect” – and she has written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid warning that there is a “clear risk” young people will succumb to mental illness if urgent action is not taken to improve services.
An NHS spokesman said: “The pandemic has inevitably had an impact on the nation’s mental health and the NHS is supporting more children and young people than ever before.
“The NHS fast-tracked the rollout of 24/7 crisis lines providing support to hundreds of thousands of children and adults monthly, rolled out comprehensive crisis services, including intensive home treatment, and has offered up to 2.4 million pupils mental health support at school.”