Drugs hardly work for children with depression side effects are significant

Main Category: Depression
Article Date: 09 Apr 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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According to Australian researchers, drugs hardly work for children and teenagers with depression. In a study, they also found that antidepressants have significant side-effects on this age group.

The scientists examined the effects of Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. They carefully examined the data of five published trials on these drugs. In comparison to placebos, these drugs offered very modest benefits. However, the risks are significant.

You can read about this study in the British Medical Journal (www.bmj.com).

Jon Jureidini, the head of this study, said "If the drugs were highly advantageous over placebo, then you'd live with the risks……If the drugs were completely safe, then you might argue that there's nothing wrong with giving something that's only slightly better than a placebo." Jon Jureidini is a child psychiatrist, in Adelaide, Australia.

He then went on to say that the two situations he mentioned do not exist. The benefits of the drug are minimal and the side effects are significant.

Dr. Jureidini said that non-child psychiatrists should not be prescribing SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) initially (they should not be the ones who start the kids on these drugs.

Antidepressants for kids have been the target of many criticisms by experts recently.

Recently the UK Department of Health advised all its doctors not to prescribe antidepressants to kids, with the exception of Prozac. It said most of the drugs are not effective and that many provoke suicidal thoughts and behaviour (US spelling 'behavior').

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