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From: "Bendersky, Judith F (HSS)" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: January 4, 2008 8:10:33 PM EST (CA)
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Upcoming PBS Frontline Program - National Alliance on Mental Illness
Happy New Year to all of you!! We wanted to alert you to an upcoming PBS Frontline program that will air next week. Here is the pertinent information:
FRONTLINE Presents The Medicated Child to Air on PBS January 8th
FRONTLINE will be airing a show titled, The Medicated Child, on Tuesday, January 8th at 9:00p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).
Please Note: NAMI has not had an opportunity to view the program in advance and did not provide any input into its content. However, here is information FRONTLINE provided us with about the show:
The program explores how in recent years, there's been a dramatic increase in the number of children being diagnosed with serious psychiatric disorders and prescribed medications that are just beginning to be tested in children. The drugs can cause serious side effects, and virtually nothing is known about their long-term impact. FRONTLINE producer Marcela Gaviria confronts psychiatrists, researchers and government regulators about the risks and benefits of prescription drugs for troubled children. The biggest current controversy surrounds the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Formerly called manic depression, bipolar disorder was long believed to exist only in adults, but, in the mid-1990s, bipolar in children began to be diagnosed at much higher rates, sometimes in kids as young
as 4 years old.
FRONTLINE has launched a Web site where you can watch a preview of the program and read a full description. Here is the link to the Web site:
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/medicatedchild
Best,
Darcy Gruttadaro
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