Children Should Not Be Treated with Antidepressants

Although there are some reasons for children to take medications for their health, they should not be treated with antidepressants for many reasons. Many remember the trend in the 1960s and 1970s that inspired the film Valley of the Dolls. Housewives were taking Valium as if it were candy. Today, things have changed. The Antidrug commercials urge parents to get help and their children off drugs too. At the same time, parents are on the other hand urged to keep their children in check. In this pill popping society, children who misbehave are no longer tolerated. There is no more “boys will be boys” mentality anymore and children who misbehave and are disruptive are often recommended Ritalin or some other drug to make the Teachers day a bit easier.

Another disturbing trend is to take medication because you’re feeling a little bit down. While clinical depression can be serious, the disorder used to be treated with psychotherapy but drugs would only be used when really necessary. It’s disturbing how today every whimper is treated with a pill. Well with all these different varieties of “antidepressants” on the market it’s no wonder how this trend has trickled down to the children. Mothers do not want their children going through the turmoil of adolescence or even worse, depression. Therefore, they allow them to take antidepressants. They think they are doing the right thing by helping their children.

Sometime in march of 2004 there were reports widely spread by the media that antidepressants and suicide are linked, and the media especially paid attention of the effects on children. Of course, this was known prior to the time that the media got is hands on the story. In fact there were concerns regarding the use of certain antidepressants and the FDA looked into claims that they could make particular children suicidal. In fact, the FDA would eventually acknowledge this and they urged that stronger warning be placed on SSRI’s. Interestingly, SSRI’s are the only acceptable antidepressant that was considered to be both safe and effective for children.

Statistics show that there is a widespread use of there substances. According to the FDA there were 10.8 million prescriptions written for things like Paxil, Zoloft, and Prozac for children under the age of eighteen. You would think that in a society that does not agree with the use of weed, a substance that has yet to be proven harmful, there would be something done before so many children had taken their lives. Doctors are put on a pedestal. If a child is diagnosed with depression, the parent thinks that he or she is being a good parent by following up and giving their children antidepressants witch are prescribed by a doctor. The medication makes life easier for the families and feeds the pockets of the pharmaceutical and medical companies.

Whether the medical community is prescribing the drug to really help children and their families is arguable. In any case, there is proof that the side effects of these drugs can be devastating. There are reports that some of the adverse