EU watchdog issues warning on antidepressants for children (4)

1 Name: Sling!XD/uSlingU 2005-04-26 21:11 ID:DIV7Uh74

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050426/BUSINESS/504260383/1003
*"The European Medicines Agency Monday called for strong warnings to be issued to doctors and parents against giving two types of antidepressant drugs to children and adolescents. The European Union regulator recommended that the drugs shouldn't be used by young patients except under approved conditions.

A review of serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors, which include Prozac and Paxil, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, such as Effexor, looked at the potential risk of suicidal behavior in children and adolescents treated with these products.

The medicines agency said its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use concluded last week that suicide-related behavior and hostility were more frequently observed in clinical trials among children and adolescents treated with these antidepressants than those treated with placebo."*

2 Name: Unverified Source 2005-04-27 04:51 ID:UojAsrKH

This was reported by the US FDA several months ago. It might have even been late last year, but I don't remember exactly. Did the EU repeat the same study or are they working from the same data?

Suffice to say, several notable researchers criticized the findings because they fail to note that many of the children who showed suicidal behavior under treatment were already showing it before treatment. Thus the medicines did not cause the behavior, which was implied by the publicity around the stories, but failed to suppress it. Thus there is no real reason to discontinue the use of these medications with children, it is simply necessary to continue to mind their symptoms and behavior, which a responsible clinician should be doing anyway.

3 Name: Sling!XD/uSlingU 2005-04-27 14:29 ID:DIV7Uh74

>This was reported by the US FDA several months ago. It might have even been late last year, but I don't remember exactly. Did the EU repeat the same study or are they working from the same data?

Haha, well spotted, it's a January (IIRC) news item. :)
I was wondering if anyone paid attention to my posts. :P

I still think that antidepressants abuse is a Bad Thing, tho.
A recent study showed that there is a widespread misuse of drug prescriptions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/26/AR2005042601624.html
The study employed an elaborate ruse -- sending actors with fake symptoms into 152 doctors' offices to see whether they would get prescriptions. Most who did not report symptoms of depression were not given medications, but when they asked for Paxil, 55 percent were given prescriptions, and 50 percent received diagnoses of depression.

4 Name: Unverified Source 2005-05-02 00:55 ID:UojAsrKH

The real problem is not the prescriptions themselves, it's the drug companies hyping their drugs to an unwitting public, and the medical industry being encouraged to pass the stuff out like candy by the pharmaceutical industry.

A large number of people in modern society really are depressed, because they spend far too much time immobile, work long hours on projects with little intellectual or moral reward, are inundated by social and political interactions with far too many other people, and have little time for personal relaxation or family time. These are all significant influences on the development of depression.

The medications serve a purpose: to relieve the chemical stress and imbalance in the brain. This doesn't cure depression, however. The mental habits that develop from years of high stress and little personal reflection are hard to break even with the help of drugs. Without thorough analysis of thought habits depression can't be relieved and the cycle of negative belief to negative behavior won't be broken. Without that the drugs are just treating symptoms, and not effecting any sort of healing, much less a cure.

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