Teens and Prozac: Are parents to blame?

by Jonathon Morgan (Subscribe to Jonathon Morgan's posts) Nov 20th 2006 9:03AM

Categories: Safety

With the rise in the number of kids taking antidepressants such as Prozac, doctors say pushy parents are to blame.

Two-thirds of doctors in Britain's National Healthcare System (NHS) admitted to prescribing antidepressants when counseling would've been more appropriate.

In the brief comment thread beneath the linked article, it's suggested that prescribing Prozac to a child who doesn't need it won't do them any harm, but I find this difficult to believe. Any drug with the ability to so drastically affect mood clearly shouldn't be administered unless it's appropriate.

Also, why are doctors blaming parents? In my experience, we just want what's best for our child, and we'll push the doctor in every which direction until they tell us what treatment will be the most successful. I would never assume a doctor would follow my suggestion -- even in treating my own child -- without first processing the information in the context of his or her extensive medical training and experience. Otherwise I might as well be diagnosing my daughter with Web-MD and intuition.

Have you had a doctor try and push drugs on your kid when they weren't necessary? Or have you had difficulty getting your doctor to prescribe medication your child needs -- antidepressants or otherwise?

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Comments (99)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

ann adams 11-20-2006 @ 11:14AM

Our clinic has become much better about overprescribing.

Off topic but I wonder how much the overscheduling of our kids' lives has to do with the need for medication.

Not in all cases of course but surely in some.

mckenna 11-20-2006 @ 1:09PM

My first instinct is to agree that yes, the doctor has the prescription pad and the medical degree, so s/he is the ultimate responsible party for the over-prescription of any drug. But as a lawyer, I'm also keenly (and sadly) aware of the fact that over-litigation has an effect on all doctors' decisions (the cover-your-butt mentality). Additionally, doctors may have learned the science, but what they do with that education is the art of practice. This is where we need to be informed consumers.

OK, my story: I took my son in for a possible ear infection. The doctor said there may be an onset of an earache, and prescribed an antibiotic. So...he gave me/us an antibiotic for a non-earache. We didn't fill it and my son was fine.

He also tried to diagnose my son with asthma bc he had a persistent cough during the preceding cold/flu season. Forget the fact that he's had no cough or wheezing since (the doctor never asked).

All this and I'm not even a parent who pushed for drugs as in your post. Imagine if I were pro-drugs. My response: time for a new doctor.

jen 11-20-2006 @ 2:11PM

Unfortunately, due to the pressure on the Mental Health Service in the UK, GPs are too quick to prescribe antidepressants - primarily because the counselling is just not available. I first started suffering from depression when I was 14 - I'm now 32 and only after flatly refusing antidepressants for 18 years, am I being referred for proper counselling. And even that is delayed, as they don't like to start counselling when you are pregnant (though they are quite happy to give you antidepressants that have proven harm to your unborn baby, but that's another story).

The 'standard' waiting list for GP surgery-based counselling is about 10 weeks in my part of the country - and that's just for 6 weeks of treatment. Should you need any more, there is a 6 month wait for referral, further 6 months for assessment, and THEN an 18 month wait for actual treatment.

I'd say that sometimes parents may want a 'quick fix', but it's the fault of the Health Service (GPs included) who take the 'easy option' of suggesting and prescribing drugs vs longer lasting treatment. I've only got treatment because I know what is available - the majority of people seeking treatment are too ill to know, or understand, that they don't HAVE to take the drugs. The UK's Mental Health service is in crisis, and the overprescribing of antidepressants won't stop until more resources are put into alternative treatments.

In addition to this, specific mental health care for teenagers is in even greater demand, and there are even more shortages. The third item in the main news tonight was about children's mental health provision:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6165062.stm

It's no wonder that children and teens are being over-prescribed, if adult mental health provision is the only alternative in many cases.

Jenny 11-20-2006 @ 4:29PM

Based on stories I've heard from friends and family members in pediatrics, I'd say that in the U.S. a major issue is access to counseling as well. If you are in an at all rural area, counseling for teens often just isn't available. Then the pediatrician struggles with a decision: is it best to prescribe since the kid has no option for counseling? To anyone reading this and thinking about counseling as a career: think about teens. There is a big market out there.

Belinda 11-21-2006 @ 12:09AM

I tried to commit suicide because I was having a hard time dealing with the memories of my uncle molesting me and my mother didn't believe me and flat out called me a lier. They hospilized me and put me on Prozac for the depression and depacote (spelling?) for mood swings. As soon as the medicine ran out she refused to take me back to the doctor to get more and was barely taking me to the councler.

I turned to cutting. I eventually was put back on prozac when I turned 18 and started working for Wal-Mart, they sent me to the department of mental health because co workers feared I was suicidal again. I was put back on prozac and was on it for only 3 months when my mother found out and kicked me out of the house.

Luckly I had found this really nice boyfriend, who is now my fiance and the father of our daughter. I am no longer on the prozac, I went off when I found out I was pregnant and never really went back on even with my OB trying to push it because of my history after the birth of my daughter. I have my bad days, but I am doing much better now that I am in a supportive environment.

I don't think I never really needed the prozac had my mother done her job and helped me or supported me, but the prozac was a good replacement for her, if I had gotten in. So in my case a doctor was willing to prescribe it yet my mother was unwilling to let me take it!

Belinda 11-21-2006 @ 12:16AM

I use to live in tiny hick town called Big Stone Gap, VA there was a councler close by in Nortan (like 15 min drive). Maybe it just wasn't small enough.

dave 11-30-2006 @ 3:26AM

That's great, now America can add mentally unstable to the resume of teens as well as obese. And Belinda, why the hell would you cut yourself. You r nuts. Everyone has problems but come on deal with it.

Annamaria 11-28-2006 @ 12:55AM

Well lets talk about the adults who put perfectly normal kids on prozac or other such drugs.........there just weaklings. There afarid to look at there own failings as parents. Because once they do they will see they are to blame.
Kids are kids they know the truth adults have been corupted.
annamaria
43 yrs old

Gail 11-28-2006 @ 1:21AM

I am now an adult, but was forcefully detained in a psych unit on a 5150 code (hazard to self or others)... instead of people talking to me, they took things out of context, and then detained me against my will, because of their assumptions. While in a lockdown adolescent unit, i was prescribed an antidepressant medication. I told them I didn't need it, I'd rather talk to someone before becoming dependant on meds to be "normal" and "ok". But they claimed that I was too hazardous and that the pills would just help me. I agreed, only because I wanted to get out of there, and into real counseling. i took them for three days, and as soon as I was released, I stopped, my dad pushed for me to continue them, but I was almost 18 at that point, and basically said it was my life, and I would help myself in my own way. I haven't been on anything, and I must say... being in college, living on my own and paying rent, and having two jobs.... I am fine without aid of stupid antidepressants. SOMETIMES... they are necessary... however, I think that if parents and doctors would LISTEN to teenagers more... and not take everything they say nowadays as pshycotic... things would be better off.

Jan 11-28-2006 @ 1:21AM

My daughter witnessed a traumatic death in her life at 9 years old. A year later she suffered Post traumatic stress disorder. One day she was fine, the next day she could not go to school, for a short walk, or anything without extreme panic. She went to counseling before and after the anxiety set in. In fact she went to several different counselers, none which seemed to help. Everything seemed so superficial. The Prozac was the only thing that helped her get back to an almost normal life. The problem is now (3 years later) when we try to take her off the Prozac, she gets so agitated, moody, and irritable and her anxiety returns. Worse comes to worse, she takes a little green pill once a day for the rest of her near future. It seems better than putting herself in a self-contained bubble forever.

Tinamaria 11-28-2006 @ 5:59PM

My response goes to McKenna and the examples with the examples he gives to us.

#1 He takes his son to the doctor because he may have a possible ear infection diagnosed by parent. Medical doctor looks at ear, and says, "Yes, there may be one coming on. I will prescribe an antibiotic to prevent this from getting worse." Diagnosed by Medical doctor.
Parent however decides not to give son antibiotic. Patient recovers luckily without the prescription. So why did parent take child to doctor if he is not going to follow medical orders?

#2 - Son has persistant cough, one of the first signs of asthma. How did the doctor know that the child had a persistant cough? The parent took the child for medical intervention. Parent now says doctor was wrong. As an asthma suffer, I know that my asthma is seasonal. I am fine during the summer, but once winter comes and the heat in the house is turned on, I start my cough again. My question is, why did the parent take the child to doctor if persistant cough was gone?

Why go to a doctor if you are not going to follow your doctor's orders? Because parent knows more medically, or just likes to take child to doctor?

Had ear infection not gone away and child developed ear infection, then this parent would say that the doctor did not pay attention to symptoms by information given to doctor by parent. An antibiotic would not have caused harm. Parents led medical doctor to believe there was an ear infection.

what if child starts with cough again just before cold and flu season (which is when some people get seasonal activated asthma.) Will parent take child to doctor while coughing or wait until cough is gone like before?

FOr writer #5. Anitdepressants can save lives. Not every antidepressant works the same for every person. Not everyone with a chemical imbalance shows the same symptoms. The antidepressant worked for this child, but parent did not continue with recommended and working treatment as requested. Child turns to cutting. This is a very serious and normally a very secretative act done by the person. They do it to cope with their pain, emotionally and physically, because they are now the one in control. Parent didn't care, so child had to do what her mental state required her to do in order to cope. (Secret Private Cuttings only she can control.) One can "cycle" in and out of a depressive state for their entire lives. Right now, she is fine without it. Maybe a yeaar from now, things will change, but this gal knows how to recognize her illness and knows what she should do about it.

Parents need to educate themselves about the illness and the prescribed medication. Don't just not give it because you changed your mind or you child temporarily (as in poster #5) gotten better, only for parent not to see that without medication, chid has now turned to other ways to cope.

Education, education, education. Know your child inside and out, it is your responsibilty as a parent. It is also your responsibility to give doctor accurate medical information when child goes to doctor, and to take the child to doctor when intervention is immediately required. Ask doctor questions about why he is prescribing such medication. How did he come up with this conclusion. It is the parent's responsibility to find out this information.

I am off my soapbox now. Thank you!!

jenniferstewart 11-28-2006 @ 9:56AM

unfortuantly i am a product of overprescribing meds it,s sicking my mom overdosed me on sleeping pills i am better now but still overprescribing meds too teens is not right

Gina 11-28-2006 @ 2:17AM

A huge problem is that the general public, and many physicians in non-mental-health fields, do not understand depression. For those with the greatest degree of depression, i.e. those who are suicidal or violently self-destructive, a combination of anti-depressants and psychotherapy or "talk therapy" is most effective. This is supported by years of research, which everyone concerned should read. For teens or anyone who is dysphoric, or feeling a little less enjoyment in life, psychotherapy alone is usually adequate. But some people, even children, have depression as a result of many factors. It can be inherited. It can be the result of deep, pervasive trauma, such as being abused by a child molester, or listening to the tirades of an abusive alcoholic parent. The patient may have no idea of the depression's cause and may be unable to connect their pain to any event. In cases like this, where the patient has experienced long-lasting abuse or abuse long ago that seems minor and unrelated now, the traumatic environment has actually caused changes in the brain, body chemistry and nervous system. At this point, it is highly unlikely the patient will be very functional and able to thrive without antidepressants, even if they get therapy.
People with depression can't just decide to feel better and look at the bright side, just get over it, or forget it, because the nervous system is now causing the patient to have a negative outlook and negative expectations. The right antidepressant can change one's body chemistry to the point that they no longer think of suicide all day long and finally feel some hope and the energy that goes with it. This is not feeling "high," like being on recreational drugs. It feels like a relief, like one is finally a normal,regular person. Psychotherapy can be a lifeline during the process of finding the right medication, however I have met many, many people who say they wouldn't be alive right now without their antidepressants (or their mood stabilizers if they have bipolar disorder). Some children will need antidepressants. There is a genetic component to depression and bipolar disorder as well as an environmental component and all these factors affect the nervous system to cause mental illness. Children and adults should both be monitored very closely in taking antidepressants. Some people try several different medications before they find one that relieves their depression. If they are feeling worse on a medication than when they started taking it, they must call the prescribing physician immediately.

angie 11-28-2006 @ 2:40AM

I would have loved some kind of antidepressant when I was a teen. I was suicidal and morbidly depressed for about a decade. Very hard times. Of course the reason I was that way was because I was expected to live a life dictated to me by my controlling parents (they've since apologized) and now I live my own life peacefully, it might have helped to have a drug kind of dull my general pain. I think the psychiatric community needs to take teens more seriously although I'm not sure I'd medicate everyone.

Susie 11-28-2006 @ 2:46AM

The entire situation is upsetting. I have a teen who was put on an antidepressent appropriately and offered counseling. The only problem was appointments for counseling were during school hours. This was not an acceptable option for us! I have a teen who is having trouble in school, poor grades and attitude and the Dr. wants me to take my child out of school! If anyone is considering entering the counseling field, please take into consideration that teens need to be in school during school hours! The amount of education missed in one day will have a negative affect on a troubled teen. Education builds upon itself, a missed day will not be made up or reviewed, it will be a missed day! When a troubled teen misses a day of school, the feelings of inadequacy are magnified!

Barbara 11-28-2006 @ 3:18AM

Since when do doctors take orders from parents. We may suggest something because we are concerned but suggest is all we can do. When I tell some of my doctor's something they look at me and make a comment like oh I didn't know you where a doctor. At that point I move on to a new doctor.

marci pack 1-12-2007 @ 6:02PM

just wanted to comment on Gina's description of when one should or shouldn't take anti-depress. i trust she must have gotten this from a professional. i have been on meds for many yrs. due to an inherited chemical imbalance. also have tried staying off and going to therapy only. for me...both was necessary and works fantastic..!! this is the best explanation i have ever read..!!! THANKS GINA...!!! MARCI

Deb 11-28-2006 @ 4:18AM

My daughter tried to committ suicide 4 years ago by taking 250+ ibu pills and others. Along with a stint in the hospital she was put on prozac. This helped but then she had trouble and started cuttting and was put on Welbutrin XL in addition to. This has helped a lot, butI think more counseling would help but she's 18 and won't. She has tried to go off but it won't work. Docs said she has a chemical imbalance and needs them. Some do and some don't. She might be dead if she wasn't on. How long will she be on? Time will tell.

marci pack 11-28-2006 @ 4:47AM

My comment to Dave is....don't take Belinda's inventory, take ur own! U haven't walked in her shoes and she is doing good today so don't knock it!!!
I agree with Susie wholeheartedly, that counselling should be done after school!!. Most counsellor's are open til five or six o'clock pm. or who may even schedule later for teens who truly need help!!

Kim K. 11-28-2006 @ 4:50AM

I had my first breakdown at the age of thirteen, due to being institutionalized because the local school system REFUSED to have me in their schools even though I had an IQ of 130, they did not want a kid with minimal brain damage in their school(Not In My Backyard)and being in and out of foster homes since the age of twelve did not help matters either...neither did having biological parents who were active alcoholics who always fought over the darndest things! I was finally mainstreamed into a regular public high school at the age of seventeen, where I was teased nonstop by some of the students! But I graduated high school at age 20, and I'm the first woman in my family to have a real graduation, not a GED(not that there's anything wrong with getting the GED)...since then there have been five suicide attempts and more hospitalizations before I was given a CORRECT diagnosis(schizoaffective disorder)..I wonder if I was diagnosed correctly at age 13, and put on proper medication and given decent therapy..how different my life could have been. I'm now 46 years old and stable on meds since 1998.