When does your child really need medication?

By Candy Lashkari

A frightening number of parents are over-medicating their young children today. Many parents are considering medication for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and for those children showing signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Journalist Louis Theroux is taking a television viewers on an investigative journey through children who are under medication to modify their behavior.

Considering that all children tend to be somewhat competitive and self obsessed, where does one draw the line? Is medication that is going to curb and alter a child’s normal and natural reaction to situations just so that he can fit in better in to societal norms really worth giving the child? Or would it be better to allow the child to grow up showing his natural attitude and learning to deal with it when he gets social criticism...." More

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Childhood Anxiety and Depression

By: Dr Wagner is the Marie B. Gale Centennial Professor and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

For both depression and anxiety disorders in youths, there is increasing evidence of clinical benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

Anxiety disorders

Both SSRIs and CBT individually have been shown to be effective in the treatment of children with anxiety disorders. A recent large randomized controlled trial examined the combined efficacy of these treatments in 488 children and adolescents (aged 7 to 17 years) who had anxiety disorder (separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, or generalized anxiety disorder).^1...More

Animals, children removed from filthy home

By Michelle Kearns

The stench of animal waste coming from a Cheektowaga home led to the arrest of a woman with almost a decade-long record of animal hoarding, authorities said Wednesday.

Police discovered 19 cats, a dog and a fish Tuesday evening in the house on Royal Palm Drive. Three children in the house at the time were taken to an aunt’s house, Cheektowaga Police. Lt. Jim Speyer said.

Linda Roehre, 48, was charged with child endangerment and animal cruelty, both misdemeanors.

The house, in a neighborhood east of Dick Road and south of Genesee Street, was condemned, Speyer said. It had holes in a wall, and its floors were warped by urine and littered with cat feces.

The state Office of Child and Family Services was contacted, he added. When police arrived, three of four teenagers in the family were watching television in the house, which was dark, had no heat and little food.

“Our concern is for the kids,” Speyer said. “We want to make sure the kids have a decent place to live.”..." More