Families For Depression Awareness To Testify To The FDA's Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee

Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Bipolar
Article Date: 09 Dec 2006 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Families for Depression Awareness will address the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as they convene for the Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) meeting, December 13. The FDA panel will address suicide risk data from adult antidepressant trials. Families for Depression Awareness speakers include: Julie Totten (president and founder) and depression-affected participants Nancy Sharby (advisory board), Anne Sheffield (advisory board/noted author) and Mary Margaret Dick (member).

In their testimony, each will stress how depression is a real medical condition that is highly treatable with antidepressants, talk therapy and other appropriate interventions. However, it is critical to monitor symptoms and potential side effects -- individually and with the help of family and friends. In related news, Families for Depression Awareness recently launched its Depression Wellness Guide, the first practical tool to help adults monitor depression with their clinician and families.

What:

FDA's Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) meeting: Suicidability Data from Adult Antidepressant Trials

Who:

Julie Totten, president and founder: Julie formed Families for Depression Awareness to help families and friends recognize and cope with depressive disorders.

Nancy Sharby, advisory board member: Nancy has experienced depression and her two children have bipolar disorder. She lost relatives to suicide and others made suicide attempts. Nancy has depression and is successfully treated.

Anne Sheffield, author & advisory board member: Anne is the author of several notable mental health books, including Depression Fallout: The Impact of Depression on Couples and What You Can Do to Preserve the Bond (HarperCollins, 2003). She, her mother and her daughter have depression.

Mary Margaret Dick, Depression Wellness Guide pilot participant: Mary used the Depression Wellness Guide in pilot form, which helped her realize her bipolar depression was improving. She firmly believes that depressive disorders are medically based and not a character issue.

Where:

Hilton Washington D.C./Silver Spring
The Maryland Ballroom
8727 Colesville Rd.
Silver Spring, MD

When:

Wednesday, December 13, 2006
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time

About Families for Depression Awareness

Families for Depression Awareness, http://www.familyaware.org, is a national nonprofit organization helping families recognize and cope with depressive disorders. The organization provides education, outreach, and advocacy to support families and is comprised of families who have lost a family member to suicide or have watched a loved one suffer with depression, with little knowledge about how to help. For more information please go to http://www.familyaware.org.

Families for Depression Awareness
http://www.familyaware.org

• Additional
• References
• Citations