Fewer Kids Prescribed Drugs for Depression

[HuckleB]

Fewer Kids Prescribed Drugs for Depression

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55371-2005Feb1.html

"The number of American children taking antidepressant drugs fell sharply last year, after months of controversy over evidence that the medications increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among some children.

The steep decline among children is a dramatic reversal of a decade-long trend of soaring prescription rates for drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, and the pattern of the data suggests the numbers could fall even further.

Activists who had urged the Food and Drug Administration to require a black-box warning about the risks of the drugs said the drop reflects the better decisions that parents and physicians are making after being warned about the medications.

But medical groups such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry warned that the government had unwittingly unleashed an uncontrolled experiment that would cause many depressed children to go without treatment and ultimately lead to more suicides.

..."

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Also, UCLA has just released the following, though it has not been picked up by news sources:

New UCLA study disputes antidepressant/suicide link

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/uoc--nus012705.php

"Challenging recent claims linking antidepressant use to suicidal behavior, a new UCLA study shows that American suicide rates have dropped steadily since the introduction of Prozac and other serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs. Published in the February edition of the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, the authors caution that regulatory actions to limit SSRI prescriptions may actually increase death rates from untreated depression, the No. 1 cause of suicide.

"The recent debate has focused solely on a possible link between antidepressant use and suicide risk without examining the question within a broader historical and medical context," explained Dr. Julio Licinio, a professor of psychiatry and endocrinology at the David Geffen School of Medicine and a researcher at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. "We feared that the absence of treatment may prove more harmful to depressed individuals than the effects of the drugs themselves."

"The vast majority of people who commit suicide suffer from untreated depression," he added. "We wanted to explore a possible SSRI-suicide link while ensuring that effective treatment and drug development for depression were not halted without cause."

Licinio worked with fellow psychiatrist Dr. Ma-Ling Wong to conduct an exhaustive database search of studies published between 1960 and 2004 on antidepressants and suicide. The team reviewed each piece of research in great detail and created a timeline of key regulatory events related to antidepressants. Then they generated charts tracking antidepressant use and suicide rates in the United States.

What they found surprised them.

..."

[kuozzman]

1. THANK GOD!

I remember watching congressional hearings about the possibility of these drugs increasing the liklihood of adolescents to commit suicide, which I think they may in fact do, but what also came out in the questioning was that almost none are FDA approved because they are having trouble proving that they even WORK(in kids). That part of the hearing was NOT covered by the media, if you can imagine that.

[shrike]

2. This must be positive

Depressants are powerful drugs (I take one). Surely they should be a last resort option for children, with their growing bodies and brains.

[demigoddess]

3. I take an anti depressant too,

but I would not give it to a child. I tried another brand of anti depressant once and it made me feel 'wired' I could only sleep 4 hours a night. the one I am on now lets me sleep better than I have in years but I still have a problem with insomnia. So you see reactions, not just side effects vary. A child is not able to describe his/her reaction well enough if you ask me. If I were to try to describe how I feel off the anti depressant I would not have the words.

[colonel odis]

4. oh, no! we can't have this!

<slapping hands to face in fake maculay culkin horror>

if doctors quit prescribing antidepressants like pez, what'll that do to stock prices? those noble drug companies need people taking their products.

hey, i've got an idea! let's get medicare to cover viagra and the other e.d. drugs! good ol' w..... he always finds a way to help out his buddies.

[HuckleB]

5. The UCLA Story is now in the press.

Antidepressants Linked to Decline in Suicides

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/100/105539.htm

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Suicide Rate Down Since Prozac

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/02/health/webmd/main671167.shtml

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Study: Benefits of Antidepressants Outweigh Risks

http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/depr/523762.html

[baba]

8. Thanks for posting this.

It is good to hear some good news about antidepressants for once!

[HuckleB]

9. Yeah.

Unfortunately, there's been little balance in the press coverage regarding the full story about antidepressants.

:hi:

[420inTN]

6. Good n/t

[HuckleB]

7. Guest Viewpoint: Depression treatment not the same for everyone

Guest Viewpoint: Depression treatment not the same for everyone

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/02/02/ed.col.duffy.0202.html

"I had a disturbing conversation with an old friend. We talked about the article I was writing. She told me she wholeheartedly disagreed with my cautious warnings about treating adolescents with antidepressant medication.

``Do you want to know why?'' she asked.

What a question. "Of course I do."

"Well, when I was 19 I tried to kill myself. My father came home from work early and found me on my bedroom floor. I had taken an overdose, fully intending to die."

I was stunned. Shannon and I had been friends since high school, and I couldn't imagine her in so much pain. The thought of her as a dead teenager and absent from my life all these years was too difficult to embrace.

..."