Walrus (Canada), Sept./17: "The Danger of Putting Youth on Antidepressants"

This is a highly-readable, informative, well-written article that addresses not only the issue of antidepressants for youth, but also looks at the field of psychiatry itself. Included are references to the newest version of the DSM, the hiding of negative outcomes of antidepressant trials, the over-diagnosis of depression, as well as the work of Dr. David Healy and of Dr. Irving Kirsch.

 

Highly recommended! I'd love to hear others' thoughts on the article.

 

https://thewalrus.ca/the-number-of-youth-taking-antidepressants-is-growing-but-are-the-drugs-working/ 

Excellent article Lapis!  Glad to see they promote cognitive behavioral therapy as an alternative to drugs although, it's terrible that there are such long wait times to get such care.  I believe more attention and money needs to be put into alternatives like cognitive therapy.  I also believe that vitamin/mineral deficiencies, methylation issues, genetic susceptibility, and diet and stress are huge factors as well.  It's a shame that kids are being prescribed these pharmaceuticals that weren't developed for them through off label prescribing, too.  So glad to see the article identify so many problems with the current model of mental health care and published for the public to see.  Thanks again   

I agree on all counts, BurnedOut. Absolutely! The author was interviewed on CBC Radio awhile back, but the article wasn't yet out. I wrote myself a little note to check it out, and I wasn't disappointed. She hit all the important points, I thought. And yes, counselling should be number one, but it's hard to access and it costs more than prescribing a pill.

Another good read! Thanks!

Thank you Lapis2 Very nice article!

 

I'm so happy to have resisted the indications of two different psychiatrists that wanted to put my teenage child on ADs due to school related anxiety. Why can't children just rest, miss school or have bad grades for a while, to recharge batteries and try to develop their psychological resources? We give that opportunity to burnedout adults, why should children just be drugged and sent back to school as if they were there to serve school and not the other way around? All very strange to me!

I think it's so dangerous to give children and young people psychotropic medications. To prescribe something that has unknown effects on a still-developing brain seems to be like playing Russian Roulette. "First do no harm" should be the rule.