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Institutional Use / Cortisol Inhibitors

Ketoconazol (and/or drugs like it) May Prevent Cortisol-related Neural Damage in Orphans
 
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High levels of cortisol have been noted in some small children institutionalized at a critical stage in their mental development. Small doses of Ketoconazol, a cortisol inhibitor, may alleviate symptoms. Any cortisol inhibitor may be a possible pharmaceutical prophylaxis for high cortisol levels (in institutional setting or orphanage, especially). The purpose would be to prevent reactive attachment disorder—common in children who were left in orphanages too long; they have trouble with disruptive behavior–the current solution is to “create safety” through therapy for adopted children well after the disorder is diagnosed...rather than prevent or blunt the levels of the stressor hormone which is causing the problem. Which is not to say talk therapy isn't powerful...it just takes so long, and has to be done after the fact. Yeah, happy foster homes are what you want. Ketoconazol, and drugs like it, are what you (potentially might) use when you have 700 kids crammed into a converted railway barn, eating and sleeping in shifts...
cloudface, Sep 09 2010

Psychiatry Watch http://psychiatry.j...ent/full/2002/425/1
Article on cortisol effects [cloudface, Sep 09 2010]

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       What's the chances anyone on here knows enough about this subject to make any kind of intelligent comment on the mechanism of the idea?   

       I will, however, award a fishbone on the general principal of institutional use of drugs. The administration of Lithium and electroconvulsive therapy probably seemed like good ideas at the time.
Twizz, Sep 09 2010
  

       They still do, for some subjects ...
8th of 7, Sep 09 2010
  

       what [Twizz] said. happy foster homes might be a better alternative.
po, Sep 09 2010
  

       [ ] I imagine familial separation to be quite traumatic in a child: in an adult that might require a temporary regimen of anti-depressants.
FlyingToaster, Sep 09 2010
  

       [ ] also. I'm not sure it would work, but it's not right to bone this on the basis that kids shouldn't be institutionalised in the first place. Some are, and this just seeks to minimize the damage.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 09 2010
  

       I honestly just assumed this was some kind of spam which had gotten through by mistake! You mean this is an actual serious idea? Are you sure?
nineteenthly, Sep 09 2010
  

       Interesting though, and as someone who had to deal with that crap as a kid it's nice to see the medical community taking an interest.
They sure didn't back then.
  

       One anxiously neurotic bun for you.   

       I haven't the faintest clue so here's a bun.
Voice, Sep 09 2010
  

       Cortisol is a stress hormone and the problem is not its excess but the situation that produces the stress. I am skeptical that this sort of cortisol excess produces damage.   

       Cortisol excess in Cushings syndrome can produce damage. Ketoconazole can help with that.
bungston, Sep 10 2010
  

       What [bungston] said. Cortisol's a marker for stress, even emotional stress. With this sort of correlation, you don't know if cortisol's part of the problem, or part of the solution, or, as often happens, a good thing in just the right quantity, but bad in excess. That cortisol stress reaction is supposed to be a part of what keeps dominant male chimpanzees in their high-status positions. But perhaps the high-status chimps all die young of apoplexy or something, I dunno.
mouseposture, Sep 10 2010
  

       oh, dog, that is a big "maybe". I would postulate "maybe not". If you want to torture some rats and find out then I'm not going to protest. On the other hand sounds like the unhealthy levels of stress are the problem and cortisol (-cue Mentos music- "the stress maker") is a natural and healthy response.
WcW, Sep 10 2010
  

       [zen_tom] Perhaps a retrospective study of institutionalized asthmatic children, controlling for severity of asthma, and comparing psychiatric outcomes in those who were treated with a lot of steroids, vs. those receiving less, or none? Might be enough variance in corticosteroid use for decent statistical power.
mouseposture, Sep 11 2010
  

       [-]. If you're going to throw money at the problem, just improve the accommodations, don't pump the kids full of drugs.
AntiQuark, Sep 11 2010
  

       What happened to "The Customer Is Always Right" ? Maybe the kids like the drugs ...
8th of 7, Sep 11 2010
  

       The customer is the one who *pays* [8th], not the one on whom the product or service is inflicted. (So, I guess you've never actually worked as a professional assasin, then?)
mouseposture, Sep 11 2010
  

       No, but we have worked as an Assassin.   

       // not the one on whom the product or service is inflicted //   

       Two words: "Network Rail".
8th of 7, Sep 11 2010
  

       Understandable: you don't want to lose your amateur status. The product endorsement contracts are so lucrative.   

       I think the right word is "client." One of Gene Wolfe's more inspired details was having professional torturers refer to their victims that way.
mouseposture, Sep 11 2010
  

       // product endorsement contracts //   

       Actually, we do it for the fun, not the money.   

       // professional torturers refer to their victims that way. //   

       Network Rail also use the term "clients". Ipso facto, we rest our case.
8th of 7, Sep 11 2010
  


 

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