More Kids On Antidepressants

The easy part is the FDA congratulating itself for an initial effort in 2004 to diminish the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents by adding the black-box warning that such medication may increase suicidal ideation.

Equally easy is blaming physicians who treat children and adolescents for becoming “inured” to warnings.

It seems now as if children and adolescents are using these medications more than ever.

General trends in psychiatric research suggest deeper reasons.

When push comes to shove, we don’t really know what causes depression.

We know the serotonin hypothesis was a construct to help develop and sell drugs, as a large amount of neurotransmitters are involved in depression.

We have never really eliminated hypotheses about plastics or other atmospheric/environmental toxins.

Or maybe it is time to consider that most of what we psychiatrists/physicians treat is really PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

Deep down, I believe that being kind to each other– parents being kind to children, and children being kind to each other — will be the most powerful prevention.