Teens and Prozac: Are parents to blame?

No wonder this country has a drug problem, between our children taking Ritalin and prozac,at such early ages, the only people profitting from this are the drug companies,don't get me wrong there situations that warrant these medications, but not 25% of the population! As soon as a problem arises with our children these days, automatically it's ADD, Instead of dealing with the real problems (divorce, peer pressure and stress) maybe love and communication should be tried first.

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My son was five when the psych said he may be bi-polar. One thing we knew was that he was depressed and manifested all the symptoms of a child with depression (which, for the record, look a lot different then an adult with depression - the major difference is that depressed chidren are very angry and act out).

After six months of therapy, we decided to try Zoloft. He was on the meds and in therapy for about two years. Then he seemed to be better so we brought him off the meds. He has been off them now for three years. I guess my point is that some kids do have and exhibit symptoms of depression. We should NOT ignore these symptoms - hoping and waiting for them to go away.

We (as parents) need to address and deal with the underlying issues. In our home it was that his father is a Gulf War veteran with severe chronic PTSD and my son had internalized much of those feelings of fear and paranoia as well as behaviors that were inappropriate for a child - but he didn't know any better because he is a kid. Add to this the fact that our home was a hotbed of verbal and emotional abuse, which he tried to protect me from at the tender age of 4 and 5...so you see, once he and I got out and got him help, he learned how to deal with things in life.

He is much stronger and a much better off child today then he was then. I firmly believe had I taken a "wait and see" attitude, he might be more depressed and suicidal by now. I think this is an issue that parents need to decide for themselves, and I don't think pushing for the "fix it" medicines is the answer. I think the medicine is only a small part of the solution.

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It just seems to me that we're a society of hypochondriacs, and the people who need help aren't getting it because everyone else also claims they "need" help.

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i am supposed to take anti depressants, but i skip them all the time. no one in my family notices becasue they are too blind. i tell them i don't need it, but they don't believe me because they say i 'argue too much and am unkind to my sisters' usually because they start teasing me and i ask them to stop and my parents think i'm arguing. they're just stupid. i am a perfectly happy person, and i have tons of friends. only use medicine as a last resort.

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Todays Doctors are nothing more than legal drug pushers. This is no accident that 20 million children are on anti-depressants. It is by design. America is being slowly conditioned into accepting and using drugs. Once the population is completely anesthetized, there will be no freedoms left. We will be under the complete control of the "dark forces" that have been conspiring to conquer and enslave us. The reality of our current situation is best described in George Orwells "Animal Farm"....If we stay on this path of insanity, our future reality will best be described in George Orwells "A Brave New World". A world where everyone will take (1) pill called SOMA, everyday....and everyone will be happy little robots (slaves).

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Is this some editorial from a non-physician??? I'm a mother of pre-teen who has been on Prozac for nearly 2 years now. I thank God that we found a doctor willing to prescribe it to him in light of quack comments like this! What parent in their right mind would want their child on an antidepressant unnecessarily? The stigma of taking psychiatric medication alone is enough to scare away many of those who actually SHOULD be on the medication and yet, you are worried about parents demanding physicians put their child on an antidepressant? Very confusing to me. My understanding of prozac is that there is no impact of the medication if there is no chemical imbalance. I noted that the writer of this article refused to even consider that point, concluding that there "must" be side effects. Talk to a physician please!
Before medication, my son was increasingly angry, combative, teary-eyed and emotional over what should have been unemotional issues. He had no explanation for his moodiness and he was bewildered by his explosive outbursts. He became more and more withdrawn and felt so alienated from his peers. We tried counseling for 6 months but it was worthless to us. We then tried Prozac and within only a few days, my child was calm, loving, and rational. Its been nearly 2 years and no more outbursts and no more unexplained moodiness and anger. I thank God for the medication - my son can grow up normal, happy, and healthy.

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i have truely enjoyed everyones view on what meds can and cant do to our love ones . i agree we need more help and someone to listen to our young children i fill we can make a difference so this is wher my heart is i am truely thinking on going back to school for my degree in helping and cous. with teens my heart goes out to them and their parents please dont forget to also pray for them .

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I don't think parents are to blame for the increase of teens taking prozac. I am one of those teens that takes prozac everyday to deal with depression and stress. My parents didn't force me on it, I had to force them to get me help with my depression from loosing two bestfriends in car accidents and then family problems that are always there. Sometimes the surroundings and events in teenagers lives push them to physicatric (can't spell that)care.
In my opinion most parents aren't supporting their teens getting help with depression because the idea of their teen seeing a shrink upsets them.

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this is for DAVE....if i didnt take lamitcal welbruion and sequil..i would be in the mental hostipal for the rest of my life because i have chemical imbalance for 10 years now no at first i wouldnt admit i told everyone that they were the ones crazy..so i drank and drank MY promblems never got better ..so after three hospitals visits and calling 911 and I told the police i burnt down the house and killed everyone in it..(KNOWING I DIDNT )but thats how bad off i was.. . i realize now I HAVE TO HAVE MY MEDS so i can live a normal life thank god im where iam now in my life i hope my stories helps someone.. b/c not admit you have mental inness by not getting help thats the person with the big problems .. Melissa

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Has anyone every really thought about this whole issue? Really think about it! Kids are on Prozac because they are depressed for some strange reason.. OBVIOUSLY right? Well has it ever occured to the parents to TALK to their children? Why not just take time out of their busy schedule and SPEAK to their child. Most of the things that bother these kids are the fact that 1. Someone could be picking on them in school. 2. They could be feeling "left out" (at home or at school) 3. THEY ARE LOOKING FOR ATTENTION from their parents. **Let me remind you that most of these kids that don't get the right attention or affection from their parents become sexual active, get into drugs and many other things!** Let me put it in simple terms TALK TO YOUR KIDS!! It's old fashion talking people that is what they need. If they don't want to talk right away LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE THERE to talk to!

Prozac is NOT the answer nor solution to everyones problems. It may help some people, but for kids it's a whole different issue. Kids are an emotional disaster with boyfriends/girlfriends, friends/not friends, peer pressure, them wanting to be "popular", or just plain out trying to fit in. Doesn't anyone remember what it was like in High School? You think Prozac is the cure for this? Most people will get over their depression and move on to bigger and better things in life after High School. So yes, Parents are to blame. Why? Because parents are to darn busy caring about themselves and their lives lately than to just SIT and SPEAK with their kids about what's right and what wrong, and issues that happen at school.

As for obesity in children.. it's just plain simple.. STOP FEEDING YOUR KIDS FAST FOOD! And stop CRAMMING THEIR FACES with JUNK! I know some have thyroid disorders but when they don't the parent is also to blame for that!

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Personally, I feel that such things as depression, ADD, etc have no physical cause. On the contrary, these so called diseases are spiritual issues. As such, they cannot be effectively treated by medication.

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My comment is to Susie, all you are really doing is complaining about your daughter. Do something about it. If the doctor says taking her out of school is necesary to get counseling, THEN DO IT. I mean what the hell. You care more about your daughter's education then her well-being. If anything were to ever happen to your daughter, would you blame it on yourself, if she had written a note before commiting suicide saying she needed someone to talk to, but couldn't talk to you. By the way, all children want to talk to their parents, the parents have to be the one to open up, and don't any of you sit there and say you do try and listen, if you really were listening you wouldn't be in this situation and your daughter would be able to talk to you. There has to be some reason for your child not to want to talk to you. Understand that when sitting down with your child to talk to them, you aren't going to yell at them as soon as they bring up something they did, or something that might upset you, because as soon as that happens, the child thinks that they can't tell you anything so they hide everything from you which in reality they really don't want to, but have no choice. I am 19 years old, engaged to be married and have a 7 month old daughter, and I went through years of Physical and mental abuse, panic attacks, and depression. I know what it's like but I just never had the guts to hurt myself because I knew someone out there loves me. And by the way, don't blame stuff on your children, they learn from example, if they learn bad things from friends, it's because YOU let them hang around with them. YOU have control of what they do, you just have to make an effort, not a phone call or a measly visit to tell some doctor that something is wrong with your child.

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If you see any signs of depression in your child, I suggest you take them VERY seriously and stop at nothing to get to the bottom of their problem. I lost my son to suicide and it is too late to do anything now. Much better to be on an antidepressant or other medication than to be dead and gone forever. It IS the worst thing that can ever happen to you, your family, and the loss of your childs future is unbearable.

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Ok I got to put my two cents in when I read this article. Its not just parents who are pushing antidepressants on teenagers, its doctors also! There is much controversy about prozac anyways or any antidepressant given to a child under the age of 18, and the FDA warns that it can cause suicide. So why are kids being prescribed prozac to begin with? What about doing behavior modification at home or at school to get to the root of the problem? Sometimes just changing things at home can make a tremendous difference in a teenagers life. And sometimes true a teenager may be so depressed that a antidepressant MIGHT be the answer, but I do not believe it should be the first answer. If doctors and parents would just REALLY listen to the teen instead of saying here take this drug, you will feel better and your problem is solved. That is not always the case. And lastly, heres another suggestion. For kids who do suffer a serious mental illness and no meds are working for them, what about pushing for brain imaging? Brain imaging should be more widely used! If you had a broken ankle, wouldnt you get an xray? Same goes for the brain I believe! Get a brain image to see what is going on and save many families and the mentally ill a whole lot of grief and heartache. Thank you.

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this comment is for the rude person named dave who critisized belinda. how dare you, unless you've been there, which it is obvious you haven't. the pain of depression takes away the physical pain you feel when you cut yourself and for me, it's the only way i can make myself stop crying when i'm upset. i think most of the psycholocists in this coutnry haven't been trained properly and don't know who to deal with things that aren't strictly textbook or don't know how to deal with people. i've only been to a few, one i almost got intimate with, another said i wasn't allowed to use my sense of humor, another looked bored, and another was just plain cranky. cutting myself is a relief after that.

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I am proud to say I am a single parent who is very involved in my childrens lives, I worked and was a room mother in both my childrens classes, 2 days a week one day in my sons class and one day in my daughters class, I did yard duty in Jr. High. In first grade I observed my son's teacher telling every parent of a boy that their son had ADD-HD, I too was told by the teacher her diagnoises of my son, she had all the names of the boys to turn into the school counselor. My thoughts were, Is this my sons teacher/doctor, the school told me I needed to take my son to the doctor and have his doctor put him on medicine because the counselor said he has ADD-HD, I was lucky to have a doctor stand up for my child, believe the school put up a fight. They were not going to let my son in the class if he did not get on medication. As parents began to discuss among ourselves we were so shocked at the schools demands on our sons, we went up the chain of command in the school district, they stuck by their teacher and counselor. My thoughts were strong, he is six years old, I am not giving my son a pill every day and say here this will make you a good boy, at six year old this is the time a child should be learning coping skills, not learning that a pill will make him be a good kid. After several months of this my doctor gave in and said ok I will put him on a medication and every week I want a report on his progress and I will be the judge If he needs any medication. The doctor said no medication for my son to the school at the end of the month. But my son was "labeled" teachers talk, and each year he moved up a grade the same thing happened again. My childrens father was diagnoised as Bipolar, he was/is an alcoholic he had been self medicating himself for years. By the time my son was in Jr. High his records being transfered the "label" was following him. The doctor was always aware of his fathers bipolar, all the men in my ex-husband family had "manic depression" (Bipolar now) well the stress of school "Labeling" and his father leaving and drinking, my son attempted suicide in the 7th grade. In the hospital they put him on antidepresents and he went crazy, my doctor took him off when he got home and started him on depakote, life was changing in a good way, then in high school he stopped taking his depakote, pretending he was taking it, he started drinking and smoking pot. He always played baseball and football, baseball is his love and even made it to the little league world series, I had put him in a recovery center for six months, school 4 hrs and 4 hrs of counseling, AA/NA meeting, parents had to go to counseling 1 day a week with their child. I never missed a counseling appt. my son came home every night it was not a live in recovery place. In my sons sophmore year of High School things started changing, he didn't have the grades for Baseball, he kept saying he wanted to beat up his father, who left when he was 3 years old, the presure was building up, he was stealing from me and at stores, ditching school, comming home late and High on drugs, punching holes in the walls then the running away from home started. I didn't know his friends anymore, I called the police and searched. I had alot of support because I was always involved in counseling, going to every appointments, always at his baseball games, I didn't go to bars, never had men over, my job was loving my children and keeping them productive in going for their goals and dreams and supporting them. But I couldn't take away his pain of not having a father in his life, he has a YMCA Big Brother since he was 7 yrs. old, but the pain turns in to depression. My son was put on Prozac along with his Depakote and is being closely watched everyday, his panic attacks are going away, and he is on independent study his senior year. I have one last thing to say, I would rather have my son being monitered by a professional and myself on medication than using street drugs that are laced with some many chemicals. Bipolar is very stressful for everyone involved and parents must seek support, in church or whatever they feel comfortable with, their are great teachers, administrators, counselors etc. out their willing to go that extra mile to help a child but parents need to seek out those special people who want to help save a child, no matter what others think it is serious and it is real and as parents we need help for our children and for ourselves, educate yourself and please take depression serious because if you don't take the time to find out what is really going on with your love ones you may have to live with a horrible regret. There will always be people like Dave #7(comment) but we don't need to worry about people who think like he does, people like him only contribute pain and depression to those we love.

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As the Director of CCHR (London), a mental health watchdog, this situation of labelling and drugging of teenagers and children for life's everyday symptoms I have seen has become endemic in society. I am now working with a mother whose 18 y.o. son was given Prozax by his GP and within two weeks he mainfested a violent aggressive manner which culminated in him taking his own life. The GP claimed that it was "normal practice" to prescribe such a potent mind-altering drug whilst waiting for therapy.
I listen to these types of situations on a weekly basis and wonder who is going to take responsibility for this. It seems that the profits of drug companies comes before the welfare of the individual. This becomes quite obvious when you find that Pharmaceutical companies spend more than 3x the money on marketing the drugs than they do on research.
If you wish to find out more about this or file a complaint go to www.cchr.org.uk

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Hey
I understand if you have a chemical imbalance and all. But to inflict harm onto youself is just nuts. Find a hobby get a boyfriend take up knitting but for god sake why would you cut yourself. It is just strange to find the need to hurt yourself. Am I incorrect? It is just plain wrong to feel the need to slice your skin!!!If that's your gig then check into a out patient mental health place cuz you need it.

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It is what I call the sissification of America. When we were kids we didn't get pumped full of drugs. High school was a diffrent story but those were diffrent drugs. Stop using things as a crutch and step up and take it on the chin. Your mind is stronger then you give it credit for.

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