About 17 percent of college students -- 20 percent of women and 14 percent of men -- report that they have cut, burned, carved or harmed themselves in other ways, reports a new survey by Cornell and Princeton University researchers, the largest study on self-injurious behavior (SIB) in the United States to date. [read more]

EurekAlert!
5 June 2006

A steadily increasing number of patients younger than age 20 received prescriptions for antipsychotic medications between 1993 and 2002, according to a report published in the June issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Antipsychotics are medications used to treat mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and mania, that may involve loss of contact with reality. Several studies have indicated that prescriptions for these medications have been increasing among children and adolescents, raising concerns among professionals and the public. However, no national data have previously been available, according to background information in the article. Most prescriptions given to children and adolescents are for second-generation antipsychotics, which are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pediatric patients. [read more]

EurekAlert!
5 June 2006