Apologies for not linking as a comment, but I thought it was too lengthy.

Your points are well placed. Several psychotropics are in fact now heavily marketed to "treat" something that was originally just a side effect of its intended purpose. To add to your rant, I will point to the fact that of all the psychotropics commonly used with adults (excluding ADHD meds), none have been studied in children and adolescents outside of pharmaceutical companies in-house research, with the exception of the recent federal study on Prozac. Certainly these companies are in a good position to conduct their own research, particularly when it comes to generating funding, but there is great concern over conflicts of interest when it comes to publishing null, or worse yet, negative findings. GlaxoSmithKline is currently facing lawsuits in NY and Britain for this concerning what they have known but avoided publishing about suicide rates connected with Paxil.

A lack of good data should not preclude prescribing for a child when there is a clear need, the physician has clinical experience in this treatment, and the child exhibits a positive response. The physician, parents, and child can weigh the risks and continue to monitor. But prescribing on a massive scale, as if it is common knowledge that these drugs perform as advertised and have no ill effects, is far different. This is compounded by the fact that the pharmaceutical companies often are in possession of data that suggests no effects or sometimes negative effects.

Mass screening for mental illness is only as beneficial as the integrity of the screen and the quality of the subsequent feedback/treatment. We already have depression days and anxiety days where every clinic, pharmacy, dentist, etc. hands everyone a questionnaire and then makes recommendations. These seem to have really improved our collective understanding of just how complicated the underlying causes of such symptoms can be (if undetected, please note sarcasm).

But back to children. Despite the lack of data, these meds are being prescribed in great quantities to what was previously an untapped market. Keep in mind there are no longitudinal studies of these meds over 20/30/40 years for their effects on adult brains/physiology/psychology, not to mention their impact on still developing children and adolescents. Worse yet, we are a long way from knowing what impact long-term pharmacotherapy of the sort might have on the children of those individuals. In fact we will probably be several generations into those effects before we begin to have a grasp on it.