a film by robert manciero

Complementary news
on the subject of
children and anti-depressants

Washington Post - October 8, 2005

Psychiatric Drugs' Use Drops for Children
Suicide Warnings Raise Bigger Fears On Testing Process

Warnings that drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Effexor can increase suicidal behavior in some children have resulted in a nearly 20 percent drop in U.S. pediatric prescriptions of the widely used antidepressants and have triggered deep concerns about the quality of current data on psychiatric drugs, doctors and regulators said. ... full story

The Guardian (UK) - September 28, 2005

GPs to stop prescribing antidepressants blamed for suicidal feelings in under-18s

Doctors were yesterday told to stop giving antidepressants to children and people under 18, because of the risks that the pills will make them feel suicidal. ... full story

Los Angeles Times - February 7, 2005

Their drugs of choice
Teens are turning to Vicodin, Ritalin and other easily obtained prescription pills

Ryan SMITH remembers the night, during his junior year of high school, when a friend gave him his first Vicodin. "It felt so incredible. I remember thinking, 'I am going to do this for the rest of my life,' " he says. Over the next year, Smith, now 22, and his friends moved on to other pills — Xanax, Valium, OxyContin and the attention deficit disorder medication Adderall, called "kiddie cocaine" for its ability to be crushed and snorted. "At the time, it felt like I knew more kids who were doing pills than who weren't," he says of his Utah high school days. ... full story

The New York Times - November 21, 2004

The Antidepressant Dilemma

Looking back, Mark and Cheryl Miller would have done a lot of things differently with their 13-year-old son, Matt. They probably would never have left Lenexa, Kan. They would have sent him to a different school, and they certainly would have chosen a different therapist. But most of all, they wouldn't have given him Zoloft. "It's not a pleasant thing living with the thought that you had a hand in your son's death," Mark Miller told me recently. "Making him take those pills was done out of love for Matt, but it was still the wrong thing to do."... full story

followed by a response from Karen Barth-Menzies, entitled The Antidepressant Fraud: No Better Than Placebo, here.

British Medical Journal - November 16, 2004

Global Rise in Antidepressants, Other Mind-Altering Drugs Prescribed to Children

Children throughout the world are increasingly being prescribed antidepressants and other drugs designed to calm or stimulate the brain, finds research.... full story

India Daily - November 13, 2004

NY Attorney General Spitzer takes aim at health regulators

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on Friday criticized the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, for failing to ensure that the drug industry publicly disclose negative results about its drugs. The failure, he said, has allowed companies to suppress negative information to the detriment of patients. ... full story

News 4 WOAI - November 11, 2004

Foster Kids on Mind-Altering Drugs?

Why would a child as young as three years old ever be on mind-altering drugs? For the past eight months, the News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters have poured through reams of state documents and discovered thousands of foster kids appear to be on powerful psychotropic drugs. Many of these children are barely in kindergarten. Some are mere toddlers.... full story

FDA News - October 15, 2004

FDA Launches a Multi-Pronged Strategy to Strengthen Safeguards for Children Treated With Antidepressant Medications

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a Public Health Advisory announcing a multi-pronged strategy to warn the public about the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior ("suicidality") in children and adolescents being treated with antidepressant medications. ... full story

Forbes - August 20, 2004

Prozac Nation? Is the Party Over?

[ ]The touchiest issue is whether SSRIs provoke suicides in children. Eric Harris was on Solvay Pharmaceuticals' SSRI, Luvox, when he and Dylan Klebold went on their murder-suicide rampage through Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. in 1999. Did the powerful drug push him into a dangerous mental zone, like the one Hugo experienced, or was it unable to stop what was already there? It's hard to know. (A Columbine survivor's lawsuit against Solvay was settled out of court, without any admission of liability, and resulted in a token contribution from Solvay to a charity.) The British health authorities have ruled that the side effects of SSRI antidepressants other than Prozac put children at an unacceptable risk of suicide. The National Institute of Mental Health in the U.S., in contrast, says that "some research" points to a drop in suicides among children since the drugs were introduced, "but it is not known if SSRIs are directly responsible."... full story

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