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Antidepressant Use in Children Soars Despite Efficacy Doubts
The Washington Post ^ | April 18, 2004 | Shankar Vedantam

Posted on 04/18/2004 7:38:09 AM PDT by neverdem

The number of depressed American children being treated with antidepressants has soared over the past decade -- a tectonic shift in the practice of psychiatry -- but new scientific reviews of the research that fueled the trend suggest that the drugs' benefits have been dramatically oversold.

The use of antidepressants among children grew three- to tenfold between 1987 and 1996, data from various studies indicate, and a newer survey found a further 50 percent rise in prescriptions between 1998 and 2002. The explosion in antidepressant use occurred even though the vast majority of clinical trials have failed to prove that the medicines help depressed children.

The spike in prescriptions over the past five years has been especially sharp among children younger than 6, even though there is virtually no clinical trial data on these youngest patients.

(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: antidepressant; depression; juveniledepression; paxil; ssri
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1 posted on 04/18/2004 7:38:10 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
What with all the TV ads I'm starting to think that the large pharmaceutical companies won't be satisfied until every last one of us has 4-5 prescriptions.
2 posted on 04/18/2004 7:48:50 AM PDT by LibKill (Yep, we are cowboys. WYATT EARP cowboys.)
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To: LibKill
"I'm starting to think that the large pharmaceutical companies won't be satisfied until every last one of us has 4-5 prescriptions."

Me too. But don't drink beer, and heaven forbid you smoke a joint. Could it be about the money? And is Rush Limbaugh just another under-medicated pain sufferer? These are my questions.

I especially like the ads that give you no clue as to what the drug is actually supposed to do for you. Hey, drink Pepsi, and you'll be young, beautiful and attractive. Or something like that!

3 posted on 04/18/2004 7:52:13 AM PDT by jocon307 (The dems don't get it, the American people do.)
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To: neverdem
I can't believe they're giving anti-depressants to children under 6! If children this young have symptoms of depression, then isn't it likely that they have miserable lives? But don't take them out of 60-hour-a-week daycare and let them be normal children or anything ... that would inconvenience the parents!
4 posted on 04/18/2004 7:56:09 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I'll stand in my front yard barefoot, with a baby on my hip ... I'm a redneck woman!)
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To: LibKill
What with all the TV ads I'm starting to think that the large pharmaceutical companies won't be satisfied until every last one of us has 4-5 prescriptions.

I am in total agreement with you. Jusging from the number of them I don't understand how any of us have made it through life with out all of these "necessary" drugs....

5 posted on 04/18/2004 7:57:21 AM PDT by Gabz (Stress out Streisand.............................DONATE MONTHLY)
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To: Tax-chick
I LOVE your tag line!!!!!

The only reason I had to put shoes on this morning is because I'm taking my "baby" on a field trip and I'm not comfortable driving barefoot!!!
6 posted on 04/18/2004 8:02:26 AM PDT by Gabz (Stress out Streisand.............................DONATE MONTHLY)
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To: fourdeuce82d; Travis McGee; El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; ...
PING
7 posted on 04/18/2004 8:02:45 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: Gabz
It's a line from a country music video my husband was watching the other night. I don't know the artist (I was in the other room nursing the baby!), but the video had Hank Williams Jr. in it. Hysterical song!
8 posted on 04/18/2004 8:04:39 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I'll stand in my front yard barefoot, with a baby on my hip ... I'm a redneck woman!)
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To: Tax-chick
"But don't take them out of 60-hour-a-week daycare and let them be normal children or anything ... that would inconvenience the parents!"

You got it! That is the ROOT of the problem.

Even folks who are terminally ill CRAVE love and not to feel abandoned to strangers. Just check out a hospice website to confirm these deep needs. Yet our most innocent and defenseless that are allowed to be born, are tossed aside for money.
9 posted on 04/18/2004 8:05:01 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: neverdem
Would you mind posting the link to the article. I was curious to see how they explained this phonenonom.
10 posted on 04/18/2004 8:06:58 AM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: jocon307
The OP link does not work for me. This should, if you have the free WaPost registration:

Antidepressant Use in Children Soars Despite Efficacy Doubts

My problem with the article is that it gives too much credence to clinical studies done to try to get the extra 6 months' patent protection that comes from the drug being approved for children. These do not necessarily try to answer any scientifically important question.

One psychiatrist has told me that children often come to her already on excessive doses of ritilin. In the process of radically reducing their ritilin dose, she might try to keep them on a steady keel with a little anti-depressant, assuming that the child also has some depression symptoms. This is kind of real world prescribing situation that these studies never get into.

It does sound strange to have a five year old diagnosed with depression and prescribed Prozac. However, I am not sure that this is what is really happenning. As always, if you read the article carefully, you see that even the reasonable doctors who say the drugs are overused do use them sometimes. As always, my big problem is when they try to tell my doctor what he or she is allowed to prescribe to my family. Drug companies in the US do a good job of producing drugs that have the chemicals in them they are labeled to have, but the studies they fund, and the FDA bureaucrats which evaluate them, are far less worthwhile than people think.

11 posted on 04/18/2004 8:09:10 AM PDT by Steve Eisenberg
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To: Gabz
Judging from the number of them I don't understand how any of us have made it through life with out all of these "necessary" drugs....

Indeed. Like any sapient critter, I feel a little down sometimes. It passes. Pills are not the answer.

12 posted on 04/18/2004 8:09:10 AM PDT by LibKill (Yep, we are cowboys. WYATT EARP cowboys.)
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To: Tax-chick
I haven't heard that song yet.....will have to make a point of listening for it. My baby is almost 6, so she doesn't spend any time on my hip anymore!

As to your other comment regarding the 60 hour a week day care......I couldn't agree with you more.
13 posted on 04/18/2004 8:13:04 AM PDT by Gabz (Stress out Streisand.............................DONATE MONTHLY)
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To: LibKill
Pills are not the answer.

I agree. The only pills you will find in the medicine cabinet in this house are ibuprofen and actifed.

14 posted on 04/18/2004 8:18:53 AM PDT by Gabz (Stress out Streisand.............................DONATE MONTHLY)
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To: neverdem
Anti-depressants often cause weight gain. Could this be the reason for the sudden rise in childhood obesity rates? Anyone even looked into it?
15 posted on 04/18/2004 8:26:46 AM PDT by valkyrieanne (Fallujah delenda est.)
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To: nmh
I know there are some cases where chemical imbalances cause depression symptoms, but most of the time, people are depressed because bad stuff is happening in their lives. I think it's totally wrong, especially for children, to refuse to address what's making them unhappy, and just give them uppers so they won't bother anyone.

We had a very good experience with a family counselor a few years ago, when our oldest daughter was having problems. The counselor was able to point out where we had personality clashes that could be avoided, and how we could deal more effectively with our daughter as she was maturing. No drugs required.

But in order for counseling to be effective for children, first you have to get both parents to invest the time, and then people have to be willing to make changes in their lives to get better results. Easier just to drug everyone than to stop living in a psychologically damaging way.
16 posted on 04/18/2004 8:29:16 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I'll stand in my front yard barefoot, with a baby on my hip ... I'm a redneck woman!)
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To: valkyrieanne
Anti-depressants often cause weight gain. Could this be the reason for the sudden rise in childhood obesity rates? Anyone even looked into it?

The real weight gain occurred from the old tricyclic antidepressants like Elavil which have gone out of style. I'm not saying to drug kids, just that this is not the cause of the obesity epidemic.

17 posted on 04/18/2004 8:34:07 AM PDT by Steve Eisenberg
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To: Steve Eisenberg
What about this study? Also this one?
18 posted on 04/18/2004 8:59:23 AM PDT by valkyrieanne (Fallujah delenda est.)
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To: neverdem
Are any of them seeing pink Christina Aguilera monsters yet?
19 posted on 04/18/2004 9:02:24 AM PDT by RightWingAtheist
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To: neverdem
According to your average pharmaceutical company and/or schoolteacher, the human condition is being an undermedicated pain-sufferer.
20 posted on 04/18/2004 9:03:48 AM PDT by thoughtomator (Waiting for Hamas to announce the name of the IDF's next target...)
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