Posted on 02/06/2007 11:04:18 AM PST by ellery
Kids’ antidepressant use dropped during same time period, study says
CHICAGO - New government figures show a surprising increase in youth suicides after a decade of decline, and some mental health experts think a drop in use of antidepressant drugs may be to blame.
The suicide rate climbed 18 percent from 2003 to 2004 for Americans under age 20, from 1,737 deaths to 1,985. Most suicides occurred in older teens, according to the data — the most current to date from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By contrast, the suicide rate among 15- to 19-year-olds fell in previous years, from about 11 per 100,000 in 1990 to 7.3 per 100,000 in 2003.
Suicides were the only cause of death that increased for children through age 19 from 2003-04, according to a CDC report released Monday.
“This is very disturbing news,” said Dr. David Fassler, a University of Vermont psychiatry professor.
He noted that the increase coincided with regulatory action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that led to a black box warning on prescription packages cautioning that antidepressants could cause suicidal behavior in children.
Fassler testified at FDA hearings on antidepressants during 2003 and 2004 and urged caution about implementing black box warnings. The agency ordered the warnings in October 2004 and they began to appear on drug labels about six months later.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
This has got to be Bush's fault!
I kind of wonder how much is due to the constant harrassment of the liberal woe is me crowd? They paint a pretty bleak picture of the world for the youth.
Nah, it's the availability of guns.
It's just a function of news media hysteria. When I was a teen in the '80s, it was a big story. Thus, it was a big problem. As the media moved onto other things, the novelty wore off and kids quit killing themselves.
Any rational stability is gone, leaving no basis for reality when the bad stuff happens.
It's no wonder. Have you ever read the profiles of some of these kids on Myspace? Religious affiliation: Wicca, agnostic, atheist. No belief in God. Sad, really.
There really are kids that for whatever reason do need anti-depressants.
True clinical depression (as opposed to the everyday blues) is a very serious illness, and sometimes it requires the use of anti-depressant therapy.
I am afraid that these "black box" warnings may have indeed kept parents from getting some kids the help they needed.
All that having been said, these drugs are way over prescribed.
How many of these kids were taught in school that they had homosexual tendencies?
True. And like someone else mentioned, all the doom and gloom reported in the media.
The suicide rate climbed 18 percent from 2003 to 2004 for Americans under age 20, from 1,737 deaths to 1,985.
By contrast, the suicide rate among 15- to 19-year-olds fell in previous years, from about 11 per 100,000 in 1990 to 7.3 per 100,000 in 2003.
Why the change from total numbers to rates?
Agree on the funny stats.
"The agency ordered the warnings in October 2004 and they began to appear on drug labels about six months later."
So the rate increased from 2003 to 2004, but the warnings didn't appear until March 2005 ????
"Most suicides occurred in older teens, according to the data"
YET
"Antidepressant use among children decreased during the same time period. Data from Verispan show 3 million antidepressant prescriptions were written for kids through age 12 in 2004, down 6.8 percent from 2003. Among 13- to 19-year-olds, the number dropped less than 1 percent to 8.11 million in 2004."
"The suicide data are preliminary and don’t show whether suicides might have been concentrated in one region or among one gender or ethnic group....“It’s something that we want to look a little bit closer into,” Crosby said. “It’s probably too early to say” if declining use of antidepressants had anything to do with it, he said"
"it’s too soon to know if they’re anything more than a statistical blip"
This seems contrary to recent news reports equating a rise in teen suicides and an increase in the use of anti-depressants. *boggle*
Well, a lot of it is due to the rampant divorce, drugging kids to the gills, or in my case having parents so paranoid about a potential developing mental illness that the slightest childish quirk be full blown psychosis. Oh, and then punishing them for acting out the side effects of said drugs. That's why as soon as I get a good job and move out, my parents better not expect any phone calls or cards on the holidays.
Yep, it looks like the last decade of affirming and supporting "gay teens" because otherwise they might commit suicide has not been working out.
I'm really lucky to have been a teenager during the Reagan years. Sure there were plenty of people who hated him but my teachers knew better than to try to insert their feelings into the schools.
I was wondering the same thing. It's bad enough that the kids have to read all those depressing novels in high school.
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