Free Republic

It was a classic case of clinical depression. The patient would not go out for fear of being bullied, moped around the house and sought comfort in eating. Eventually there was nothing for it. Twiglet the cat had to be put on Prozac. The 12-year-old grey tabby, whose weight had ballooned to 15lb, became one of the first pets in Britain to be given anti-depressant drugs, on the advice of a vet who said she had 'anger management issues'. And the results have been dramatic. Five months later, Twiglet has lost almost 7lb and is roaming around the back garden...

Amid an international debate about the side effects of drugs taken for depression, a large-scale analysis of British medical records has found little difference in rates of suicidal behavior among patients given some of the most commonly prescribed medications. The risk is highest when patients begin taking the drugs, as doctors have long suspected, and tapers off quickly after that. The study, which is being reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found no evidence that withdrawal from the drugs put patients at an increased risk of suicide. The analysis, conducted and financed by the Boston University...