Getting antidepressants increasingly difficult for children

• In the wake of recent government warnings about children and antidepressants, parents are having an increasingly difficult time getting prescriptions for their children.
• Parents have frequently turned to pediatricians and family doctors for mental-health treatment for their children, finding it less stigmatizing and more accessible than seeing a psychiatrist or therapist.
• But some pediatricians and family practitioners are reluctant to prescribe antidepressants for young people and are referring families to child and adolescent psychiatrists instead.
• The challenge is that there are far fewer of these specialists available, and frustrated families are encountering waits of as long as a year in some cases to get appointments.
• The current wave of referrals for antidepressants has only made the shortage worse.
• Questions about antidepressants and kids came to a head last month when a Food and Drug Administration panel recommended that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the class of antidepressants including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, should carry "black box" warning labels because a small percentage of children taking the drugs had increased suicidal tendencies.
• In turn, there are few child and adolescent psychiatrists to teach in medical schools, says Thomas Anders, president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
• "They have different rates of metabolism, different responses to medications."
• Sherri Walton of Paradise Valley, Ariz., has two teenage daughters who receive psychiatric care for depression and other conditions.
• The Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, a national advocacy group, has chapters and parent advocates in every state.
• After her adolescent son was hospitalized for bipolar disorder 2 1/2 years ago, Susan Page-Thompson was referred to the Massachusetts state department of mental-health services, which assists children with a variety of problems.
• In addition to literature on child and teen depression, there are several mental-health advocacy groups that can be resources for families.