Depression is the most common diagnosis made by doctors in Britain, and while I'm sure doctors are made well aware of these risks (and to not prescribe it needlessly) this risk seems quite serious, especially since it's much larger in teenagers.

Do you think this has had any significant real world impacts? Or possibly in the future?

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and victorious in war shall be made glorious in peace.

Also, the fact that they were so easy to get one's hands on, it lead to a rise in people taking them to get high.

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If nothing we do matters
then all that matters is what we do.

I hope all patients and their families are given instructions as to what to expect . It's a new year- I've got hope!

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A Parent, old geezer, and occasionally right. Good judgment comes from bad
experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Many times, the companies' biased studies themselves didn't even show much benefit, but they just twist it to sound like it.

Until the public questions these nonsense 'doctors' and makes this an issue, it won't be an issue. The problem is that 'mental illness' is taboo because its 'genetic' or whatever, and until it's not taboo, it won't happen. Kind of a vicious cycle.

But it's not just this, it's questioning everything about it in general (for example, they claim 'improvement', but never define 'improvement').

Post edited at 3:53 pm on Jan. 1, 2009 by iconoclast

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cool :cool:

In adults, I read a study where adults who committed suicide while on antidepressants where extremely depressed and where not prescribed a large enough dose. The little bit they were given seemed to make them apathetic, but allowed them to think more. Those thoughts then led to the ability to act on their depression, resulting in suicide.

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Heaven has a beer volcano and stripper factory
Hell is the same, but the beer is stale and the strippers have STDs

I think that knowledge is important to understand, as it's critical to realize that the drug itself does not MAKE someone suicidal who previously was not.  Rather, it puts those who were already suicidal at a greater risk for going through with it.

In terms of real world implications, I think it's fairly obvious that it has has some effect.  In order for teenage patients to be prescribed an SSRI, they have to agree to go through about 3 (?) months of medication follow-ups to insure that they aren't feeling more suicidal (at least in the US).  

I would imagine that in the future, we would be working towards developing new treatments that affect emotional temperament and energy equally, which would hopefully compensate for that volatile period.

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Around and around and around we spin,
With feet of lead and wings of tin

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I think that we have already seen the backlash of the few years ago that doctors seemed to go on a drug-pushing binge with depression patients. They made it seem (to the 'outside world') like depression is something that you can just snap out of, that it's a rite of passage...  

Also, the fact that they were so easy to get one's hands on, it lead to a rise in people taking them to get high.

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