To this day, some FDA advisers continue to claim there is no scientific evidence showing that antidepressant prescription drugs actually caused children to engage in violent behavior or commit suicide. And yet the pharmaceutical companies' own studies very likely reveal precisely that, which is why those same companies have refused to make their data public. And yet those companies were forced to admit in letters to doctors in the UK that these prescription drugs were, in fact, linked to violent and suicidal behavior among adolescents and that doctors should no longer prescribe the drugs to children.
The ability of antidepressant drugs to alter the behavior of children and cause them to commit violent acts is so strong that it could not be hidden with even the best efforts of drug company researchers, who engaged in all sorts of subterfuge in order to skew the test results: such as disallowing from the study children most likely to commit suicide in the first place. Similarly, drug companies never publicized some of the more famous examples of antidepressant drugs gone bad, such as when two high school students in Columbine, Colorado opened fire on their classmates, killing dozens. Both students were on antidepressant drugs at the time.
The list of suicides and the incidence of violent behavior by children taking antidepressant drugs continues to grow, and yet both the FDA and the manufacturers of these drugs continue to deny any link whatsoever. Realize there is absolutely no scientific evidence showing that these antidepressant drugs do anything at all to improve the mental state of children taking them. There is simply no evidence of this, despite all of the studies that have been paid for by drug companies in an effort to find some tiny shred of positive news they could take to the FDA as "proof" that these drugs were useful. If anything, the drug companies' own clinical trials have only proven that antidepressant drugs cause violent behavior and suicides, not that they improve the mental state of children taking them.
All of this is a moot point anyway, since mental depression is not caused by a brain chemical imbalance in the first place. Imbalanced brain chemistry is simply the resulting symptom of a deeper cause: nutritional imbalances, lack of sunlight, and lack of physical fitness, primarily.
Healthful nutritional habits that eliminate refined carbohydrates from the diet (such as white flour, soft drinks and refined sugar) go a long way towards eliminating negative states of mental health. Exposure to health enhancing natural sunlight -- a healing practice known as phototherapy or vibrational medicine -- further improves the overall health and mental functioning of practically every human being. Add in regular physical exercise that further balances brain chemistry, and you have a simple 1-2-3 approach to reversing virtually every case of depression in the country.
And yet the very idea that treating or reversing clinical depression could be as easy as changing a person's nutrition, exposure to healing sunlight, and physical exercise habits is considered heresy by a most doctors and the vast majority of psychiatrists. Why? Because if you admit that a patient can heal themselves by altering their own dietary habits, you take away the power from doctors and psychiatrists. Suddenly, the doctors are less important, and they lose a degree of control and authority over the lives of patients. Since most doctors and psychiatrists are so egoistic to begin with, giving up this degree of control and authority over their patients is something that's unthinkable, so they will resist it at every turn, regardless of the state of the scientific data which clearly shows, once again, that antidepressant drugs are of absolutely no use to adolescents whatsoever.
Unfortunately, too many people turn to drugs in search of a magic bullet solution that does not require them to take the courageous step of owning their outcome. Too many people are reluctant to take responsibility for the results caused by their own actions, and they therefore resist making changes in their lifestyle that would require effort or risk. It's easier to go to a doctor, give them the power to solve your problems, and then take a magic pill once a day for the rest of your life. That's the easy way out, it seems, but in reality it is neither easy nor is it any way out: it doesn't address the core problem at all, which is for most people nothing more complicated than the fact that they aren't leading a healthy lifestyle in the first place, and therefore they aren't happy about how they feel.
You can call it clinical depression, and certainly there are many doctors and psychiatrists who would be happy to diagnose it as such, but in fact it is nothing more than a person who is suffering from " Western lifestyle disease" which promotes a high carbohydrate diet, irrational fear of the sun, and avoidance of physical exercise.
WASHINGTON (AP) --- Parents and doctors need more explicit warnings
that some widely used antidepressants are suspected of sometimes causing
suicidal behavior in children and teenagers, scientific advisers told
the government.
That doesn't mean the drugs shouldn't ever be used in children, nor is
there actual proof yet that the suicide risk is real, advisers to the
Food and Drug Administration cautioned Monday as the agency opened
public hearings on a controversy sparked when Britain last year declared
most newer antidepressants unsuitable for use by depressed minors.
The FDA has approved only one, Prozac, to alleviate pediatric
depression.
"I doubt that pediatricians or family practitioners are aware of the
level of concern about this potential problem," said Dr. Norman Fost, a
University of Wisconsin pediatrician and bioethicist.