At least 30 children have had psychotic episodes and wanted to kill themselves while taking drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to reports.
Documents from the Therapeutic Goods Administration outline the figures, Sydney's Daily Telegraph says.
One seven-year-old boy became so depressed while taking Ritalin in 2008 that he tried to commit suicide while an eight-year-old hallucinated that spiders were crawling up his skin after taking ADHD drugs.
The newspaper also reports that the overall number of serious reactions to ADHD drugs has doubled to 827 in the last three years.
However, the true extent of side-effects being experienced may be hidden because of doctors and parents under-reporting the impact.
Experts in children's health say there is a clear link between ADHD drugs and psychotic episodes in children, with boys said to be worse affected than girls.
from AAP 13th Oct 2009
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