Speaking of antipsychotics, this is disturbing...

Kids With ADHD Getting Wrong Drugs, Study Finds

Too many kids with ADHD may be getting strong antipsychotic medications meant to treat diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, a new study finds.

And many are getting these drugs without any kind of diagnosis indicating they have a psychiatric disorder, the survey found.

Not only do these kids risk serious side-effects from the drugs, but they may be missing out on more effective treatments for their conditions, the research team writes in the Journal of the American Medical Association publication JAMA Psychiatry.

"What's especially important is the finding that around 1.5 percent of boys aged 10 to 18 are on antipsychotics, and then this rate abruptly falls by half as adolescents become young adults," said Michael Schoenbaum of the National Institute for Mental health, who worked on the study.

Schoenbaum, with colleagues at Columbia University, Yale University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, looked at prescription data from across the United States. They found a troubling pattern of use of antipsychotics.

"What we see is patterns of use, particularly in boys, that suggest that antipsychotics are largely not being used for the disorders the Food and Drug Administration has approved them for," Schoenbaum told NBC News. "Rather, among boys, particularly teenage boys, uses are much more consistent with prescribing to manage behavioral problems."