07-25-2018, 01:25 PM
I've only read the news article quickly, but I don't think it is well written. It gives these numbers of children on antidepressants, but for context it needs a proportion - what is this out of? How many children are there in the UK? A percentage would help. Better still would be a more systematic analysis by age.
When it comes to the developing brain, that doesn't stop when you hit a legally defined point of adulthood. You could take the view it develops through into early-mid twenties.
My view of ADs is complicated. Friends have found them life savers (literally). My experience of seroxat at 18 was horrific. I tried to kill myself, but was utterly unaware of the pain it caused people around me, or that my behaviour was so inappropriate. Years later it is still a source of real pain and regret that I behaved that way - even though it really wasn't my fault. Back then SSRIs were still the miracle cure, and compared to tricyclics (which I have also taken) the side effects are generally better. When I went back to the doctor with a list of new/worse symptoms, it never occurred to him that seroxat was the cause, so he doubled the dose. Let's just say it didn't go too well.
I'm not anti-SSRI, but doctors need to inform patients of possible side effects and those that could be a medical emergency. Saying "you may feel worse before you feel better" is too vague and gives the patient no sense of what they are supposed to do about the feeling worse bit.
My suspicion is lots of exogenous depression is being treated through the medical model, with this focus on serotonin, when there may be social causes. In many instances depression or anxiety may be entirely rational responses to the situation someone is in.
When it comes to the developing brain, that doesn't stop when you hit a legally defined point of adulthood. You could take the view it develops through into early-mid twenties.
My view of ADs is complicated. Friends have found them life savers (literally). My experience of seroxat at 18 was horrific. I tried to kill myself, but was utterly unaware of the pain it caused people around me, or that my behaviour was so inappropriate. Years later it is still a source of real pain and regret that I behaved that way - even though it really wasn't my fault. Back then SSRIs were still the miracle cure, and compared to tricyclics (which I have also taken) the side effects are generally better. When I went back to the doctor with a list of new/worse symptoms, it never occurred to him that seroxat was the cause, so he doubled the dose. Let's just say it didn't go too well.
I'm not anti-SSRI, but doctors need to inform patients of possible side effects and those that could be a medical emergency. Saying "you may feel worse before you feel better" is too vague and gives the patient no sense of what they are supposed to do about the feeling worse bit.
My suspicion is lots of exogenous depression is being treated through the medical model, with this focus on serotonin, when there may be social causes. In many instances depression or anxiety may be entirely rational responses to the situation someone is in.