Medicating Kids, 2001, script

NARRATOR: After only a month off Ritalin, Noelle [Demo] started taking her pills once again. Her teacher was pleased.

MICHELLE MINISH: I like the idea of the new or the medicated Noelle being able to focus on her schoolwork and get done what's necessary for her to get done. Our goal, as teachers, is to get them there, is to, you know, give them all the tools that they can have in order to be successful, and if it's, you know, recommending some things that we are aware of as far as how they can do certain work, what can make them more successful, ultimately, it's a parent's choice. But I think that if any parents want their children to be successful, I mean, they're going to do what needs to be done.

Dr. JAMES GRUBBS: Is the dose still the same since the last time we met? Is it still 15 milligrams?

CAROL DEMO: Yeah.

NARRATOR: Halfway through the 7th grade [age 12-13], Noelle's psychiatrist recommended she switch to a different stimulant.

Dr. JAMES GRUBBS: Since we started with the Ritalin, there's another medication that's available which is now on your insurance plan - it wasn't originally on it - called Adderall, which seems actually to work at least as well, if not better, than the Ritalin. And you take it once in the morning, and it lasts all the way through the school day for most kids.

NARRATOR: He says it's all part of an effort to help Noelle become a happy, well-adjusted child.

Dr. JAMES GRUBBS: I actually have some people who are taking Adderall in the morning and Ritalin in the afternoon.

NOELLE: Well, we could do that for gymnastics.

Dr. JAMES GRUBBS: The medication has helped her nervous system function in the normal range. She is a normal, healthy, growing, intelligent, bright, energetic kid, and in part that's as a result of the medicine.

The Medicated Child, 2008, script

NARRATOR: Over the last 10 years, there's been a steep rise in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood mental illnesses of all types- ADHD, depression, autism and anxiety disorders. But the biggest controversy has been in the diagnosis of bipolar. Formerly called manic-depression, it was long believed to exist only in adults.

The diagnosis of childhood bipolar grew out of a series of studies by a group of child psychiatrists at Massachusetts General Hospital led by Dr. Joseph Biederman. He theorized that many children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were actually misdiagnosed.

LAWRENCE DILLER, M.D., Author, Running on Ritalin: In 1996, an article is published that announced that 23 percent of an ADHD population also meet criteria for bipolar disorder, OK? This was an astonishing announcement that caught most of us quite by surprise because the notion that even a teenager could be diagnosed bipolar was very, very rare.

DAVID SHAFFER, M.D., Chief, Child Psychiatry, Columbia Univ.: What he did was he took the written criteria for attention deficit disorder and he took the written criteria for bipolar disorder and he said, "Hey, a lot of these kids that you call ADHD actually fit the criteria for bipolar disorder," which I think attracted a whole lot of people. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, bipolar disorder suddenly was being diagnosed left, right and center. ...

NARRATOR: Today there are one million kids being treated for bipolar, more and more of them at younger and younger ages.

This is D.J. Koontz. He's 4 years old. His doctor believes he's bipolar.

CHRISTINA KOONTZ: Why don't you come take your medicine?

D.J. KOONTZ: I miss my Chubbies!

CHRISTINA KOONTZ: D.J. takes Focalin extended release in the morning, a dose of Focalin in the afternoon, Clonodine to sleep at night, and Risperdal to quiet his tantrums.

NARRATOR: Bipolar in adults has traditionally been treated with drugs like Lithium. Now there are new antipsychotic drugs called atypicals.

CHRISTINA KOONTZ: It's a little worrisome to me because he is so young. You know, I don't know what the long-term side effects are going to be for him. I do know if he didn't take it, though, I don't know if we could function as a family. It's almost a do-or-die situation over here.

NARRATOR: One of the drugs D.J. is taking, Risperdal, is an antipsychotic commonly used on bipolar kids. It's known to cause tics, drooling and incessant eating.