The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs

Two years ago, Dr Chris van Tulleken discovered we are taking more prescription drugs than ever before - a billion prescriptions a year in the UK. He worked with a GP surgery to get patients to try drug-free alternatives - with amazing results. Now he is on a new mission - to understand why we are giving British kids over three times more medication than we were 40 years ago. As a new dad, Chris has a very personal motivation to explore the reasons behind this explosion in medication. In the series he sets about finding alternatives which might be just as, or even more, effective than drugs. He tackles the shocking rise in teens taking anti-depressants by testing if wilderness therapy can work where the drugs are failing. He investigates why parents are giving out so many over-the-counter meds when they may not be always necessary, and he helps hyperactive kids replace their drugs with mindful meditation. He also digs deeper into the forces driving the over-medication of UK children and asks whether the drug industry itself could be playing a part in the rise. In 2016 we spent a staggering £64 million on one brand of children's liquid paracetamol. Chris meets a self-confessed fan who reveals she has bought over 25 bottles in less than two years! As a new dad, Chris doesn't blame vulnerable parents. His research reveals a pharmaceutical industry that helps create a culture which, he believes, encourages parents to unnecessarily use liquid paracetamol. At a family fair in Bristol, Chris creates a surprising stunt to show Britain's parents when not to give liquid paracetamol and make sure they don't waste their hard-earned money giving children drugs they don't need. One of the other areas where medication rates have increased the most is treating kids' behavioural problems - prescription meds for ADHD have increased by 800 per cent since 2000. These drugs do help some symptoms of ADHD in the short-term, but side effects can include loss of hunger, change

Dr Chris van Tulleken is on a mission to understand why we're giving over three times more medicine to our kids today than we did 40 years ago. He looks into one of the biggest health crises facing young people: depression. The number of children in Britain being treated with drugs for depression almost doubled from 2005-2015. Chris wants to know why so many children are being given these meds and whether they actually work. He discovers that most antidepressants are not effective in children, while there is also a very real risk of them increasing suicidal thoughts. He meets 15-year-old Jess, who is so anxious she hardly leaves her bedroom. Over several months, and with Chris's help, she takes up wilderness therapy. It's a tough and emotional journey as Jess struggles with school, exams and everyday interactions. But by her 16th birthday Jess discovers she has made amazing progress. Chris also looks into prescriptions for milk formula to treat babies with cow's milk allergy, which rose by almost 500 per cent in the ten years to 2016 and is now costing the NHS over £64 million a year. When he attends a training day for NHS staff, he finds advertising and sponsorship by the same company that makes the formula to treat the allergy. He concludes that we are muddling up advertising with science and healthcare and is shocked that we're allowing big formula companies to promote this condition, a condition that they profit from treating. As diagnoses and sales have all gone up, Chris questions whether letting big business get involved in healthcare could get between our children and their health.