Originally published December 1 2005
Psychiatric counseling often replaced by prescriptions, study finds
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Jun Ma, MD, PhD, research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, led a study that found a trend in psychiatry between 1995 and 2002, in which psychiatrists were commonly replacing counseling young patients with heavier psychiatric drug prescriptions. The FDA has confirmed young patients are at greater risk of side effects associated with antidepressants.
The researchers found that, despite clinical guidelines calling for depressed adolescents to be treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication, antidepressants began supplanting - rather than complementing - the role of mental health counseling between 1995 and 2002.
And although only one antidepressant has been sanctioned for use in children, the study found that doctors were prescribing a variety of mood-altering medications for young patients.
The researchers hope their findings provide a benchmark for assessing how the 2004 decision affects depression treatment in children, while reinforcing that antidepressants can be a valuable treatment tool if used appropriately.
"We're not saying that doctors should avoid prescribing antidepressants for kids, but we are pointing out the potential for inappropriate use of antidepressants," said Jun Ma, MD, PhD, research associate at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and lead author of the study that will appear in the December issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The development of new antidepressants, particularly a class known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, offered hope, but only one has been proven safe in children.
Prescribing any other antidepressant for children is considered "off-label" use of the medication.
However, because roughly 40 percent of patients are not fully responsive to fluoxetine, physicians often seek out other medications for those patients.
In recent years, concerns were raised that some of the newer SSRIs heightened the risk of suicide among young patients, and in October 2004 the FDA required manufacturers of all antidepressants to include a "black-box" warning - the most serious type of warning on prescription drugs - describing the increased risk of suicide among adolescents taking such medications.
In 1995, fluoxetine prescriptions accounted for 41 percent of the SSRI prescriptions for adolescents but dropped to 31 percent in 2002.
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