Australian Politics Forum - Children on anti-depressants

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Children on anti-depressants
Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:06pm

https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/25222918/are-anti-depressants-being-used-as-a-qu...

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Australia has always been seen as the lucky country, and in many ways it still is.

But, remarkably, we are now the second highest users of anti-depressants in the world.

We even now have toddlers on anti-depressants, while a growing number of school children are being prescribed the drugs.
Australia's use of anti-depressants has doubled over the past decade.

By 2010 there were 26,605 children under 18 on prescribed anti-depressants and 1,264 aged two to six-years-old.

Psychotherapist Dr Karen Phillip said: "There is a 35 per cent increase in children from ten to 14 that have been prescribed anti-depressants over the last few years, by continually prescribing antidepressants for anything and everything that a person goes to a doctor for is tragic."

Emma O'Neil has been on anti-depressants for almost a decade, yet when first prescribed them, suffering anxiety in primary school, she was not even given a mental health diagnosis.
She said: "When I was ten I was being bullied for being overweight so that was probably where it started.

"I went to the doctor and basically they just said we will try you on this meaning anti-depressants."

Anti-depressants are prescribed too often as a first-line quick-fix.

Professor Patrick McGorry, of Headspace, said: "Anti-depressants would be considered if the depression that is being experienced is very severe or if other psychological social forms of treatment haven't worked."

Mental health groups say there's plenty of support at hand and urge people to listen, talk about problems and seek help as soon as possible.

Sebastian Robertson of BATYR, a youth mental health group, said: "In every classroom, on average, in Australia, there are five people suffering from a mental illness in silence.

"We have to make sure we focus on greater education so young people can identify when they need help earlier rather than later on."

Does anybody else see anything wrong with this?

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #1 - Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:26pm

Quote:

"When I was ten I was being bullied for being overweight so that was probably where it started.

"I went to the doctor and basically they just said we will try you on this meaning anti-depressants."

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant, and would also help prevent her getting bullied, and unlock a lifetime of potential.

I blame the parents for taking the "easy road" which turns out to be anything but.

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”

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In the fullness of time...

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Ex Dame Pansi Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 24168	Re: Children on anti-depressants Reply #2 - Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:30pm It doesn't help that GP's get brownie points from the pharma company for every prescription they write.
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greggerypeccary Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 131456 Gender:	Re: Children on anti-depressants Reply #3 - Oct 19^th, 2014 at 5:34pm Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:30pm: It doesn't help that GP's get brownie points from the pharma company for every prescription they write. If by "brownie points" you mean iPads and trips overseas then yes, you're right.
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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #4 - Oct 19^th, 2014 at 6:58pm

... wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:26pm:

Quote:

"When I was ten I was being bullied for being overweight so that was probably where it started.

"I went to the doctor and basically they just said we will try you on this meaning anti-depressants."

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant, and would also help prevent her getting bullied, and unlock a lifetime of potential.

I blame the parents for taking the "easy road" which turns out to be anything but.

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”

This is true.

I think parents need to take responsibility... but also, living in a society that allows doctors to give anti-depressants to children.

Will the rational thinkers or whoever else please come forward and tell us if they've tested this to be safe?

Alcohol and drugs have been known to affect the development of a child's brain. Would it not be the same for anti-depressants?

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Nothing would be what it is,
Because everything would be what it isn't.
And contrary-wise - what it is, it wouldn't be.
And what it wouldn't be, it would.
You see?

- Lewis Carroll

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #5 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 4:23am

Yes, there is a lot wrong with it. When I was a kid, children didn't even get pain killers when they were sick. Seriously, I have never had painkillers until I was an adult. Also kids were not supposed to drink coffee in the old days. Nowadays kids are getting loads of caffeine from these rubbish energy drinks. Caffeine, pain killers, anti depressants. Kids are growing up with major substance abuse.

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issuevoter Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 9200 The Great State of Mind Gender:	Re: Children on anti-depressants Reply #6 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:38am If you gave a kid a joint you'd be thrown into the slammer. But even with adults, anti-D drugs kill creativity. Zombies walk among us.
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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #7 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 11:35am

issuevoter wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:38am:

If you gave a kid a joint you'd be thrown into the slammer. But even with adults, anti-D drugs kill creativity. Zombies walk among us.

Yep, it's the "dawn of the dead".

It's funny how it's okay for big pharma to dictate what drugs you can and cannot take, isn't it?

Morphine is okay if you're in severe pain, provided it is prescribed by an "expert" but how dare you buy heroin off the black market.

Speed is okay... just so long as that is used to relieve you from a flu. But how dare you buy it off the street to use for fun.

And marijuana... well, that is just the devil. Nobody should have marijuana. It's bad. Cheesy

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Kat

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #8 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 12:25pm

I don't recall it ever even being an issue when I was a kid (1960s - early 1970s). Certainly
none of the kids I knew were 'on' anything, and none seemed the worse for it. And, as Eagle
Eyes points out, back then you were lucky to get an aspirin, never mind anything stronger.

Even now, looking back over 40-50 years with the hindsight and awareness of what to look
for, I still don't see anyone or any incident(s) standing out.

I'm far from being a conspiracy-theorist, but the only things I see that have changed a great
deal since then that are likely to be at least partially responsible are the additives and (more
recently) genetic modification of our food, and toxins etc in the environment and food-chain.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but...

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #9 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 4:43pm

Kat wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 12:25pm:

I don't recall it ever even being an issue when I was a kid (1960s - early 1970s). Certainly
none of the kids I knew were 'on' anything, and none seemed the worse for it. And, as Eagle
Eyes points out, back then you were lucky to get an aspirin, never mind anything stronger.

Even now, looking back over 40-50 years with the hindsight and awareness of what to look
for, I still don't see anyone or any incident(s) standing out.

I'm far from being a conspiracy-theorist, but the only things I see that have changed a great
deal since then that are likely to be at least partially responsible are the additives and (more
recently) genetic modification of our food, and toxins etc in the environment and food-chain.

I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but...

I agree with you.

Other factors come into play as well, the health industry is a huge money maker for starters, coinciding with an increasingly weakening society where if you show any sign of anger or sadness you're automatically assumed to have a mental illness of some sort.

Apparently people are expected to be happy with the way things are and if they show otherwise, it isn't because of life itself -- it's a perfectly simple, rational, scientific reasoning behind it: mental illness.

I thought it was quite normal for toddlers to chuck tantrums, cry and have hissy fits. I can't imagine a toddler having the capacity to attempt to slit their wrists, can you?

What's next, are we going to give our newborns anti-depressants because they wake up and start crying?

It's not only pathetic but deeply disturbing.

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #10 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:33pm

gone wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 4:23am:

Yes, there is a lot wrong with it. When I was a kid, children didn't even get pain killers when they were sick. Seriously, I have never had painkillers until I was an adult. Also kids were not supposed to drink coffee in the old days. Nowadays kids are getting loads of caffeine from these rubbish energy drinks. Caffeine, pain killers, anti depressants. Kids are growing up with major substance abuse.

Your parents were idiots then.

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Annie Anthrax

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #11 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:44pm

1264 small children isn't that big a number. I would think that the pharmacotherapy is perhaps being used to treat anxiety rather than depression in the very young. While it's not ideal, I don't have that big of a problem providing the medication is prescribed by a specialist like a psych or a paediatrician rather than a GP and that the medication is bring given in conjunction with other therapies like cognitive-behavioural etc.

Kat, I'd add social factors like helicopter parenting in there. Still, some kids (and adults) are naturally more resilient than others.

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #12 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:49pm

Freedumb wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 6:58pm:

... wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:26pm:

Quote:

"When I was ten I was being bullied for being overweight so that was probably where it started.

"I went to the doctor and basically they just said we will try you on this meaning anti-depressants."

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant, and would also help prevent her getting bullied, and unlock a lifetime of potential.

I blame the parents for taking the "easy road" which turns out to be anything but.

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”

This is true.

I think parents need to take responsibility... but also, living in a society that allows doctors to give anti-depressants to children.

Will the rational thinkers or whoever else please come forward and tell us if they've tested this to be safe?

Alcohol and drugs have been known to affect the development of a child's brain. Would it not be the same for anti-depressants?

SSRIs work by inhibiting the reuptake or reabsorption of chemicals already produced by your neurons. Antidepressants are prescribed to pregnant women if the benefits outweigh the risks and quite often they do. Alcohol has a far more detrimental effect on the developing brain than antidepressants.

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Re: Children on anti-depressants
Reply #13 - Oct 20^th, 2014 at 8:58pm

Annie Anthrax wrote on Oct 20^th, 2014 at 6:49pm:

Freedumb wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 6:58pm:

... wrote on Oct 19^th, 2014 at 4:26pm:

Quote:

"When I was ten I was being bullied for being overweight so that was probably where it started.

"I went to the doctor and basically they just said we will try you on this meaning anti-depressants."

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant, and would also help prevent her getting bullied, and unlock a lifetime of potential.

I blame the parents for taking the "easy road" which turns out to be anything but.

“There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.”

This is true.

I think parents need to take responsibility... but also, living in a society that allows doctors to give anti-depressants to children.

Will the rational thinkers or whoever else please come forward and tell us if they've tested this to be safe?

Alcohol and drugs have been known to affect the development of a child's brain. Would it not be the same for anti-depressants?

SSRIs work by inhibiting the reuptake or reabsorption of chemicals already produced by your neurons. Antidepressants are prescribed to pregnant women if the benefits outweigh the risks and quite often they do. Alcohol has a far more detrimental effect on the developing brain than antidepressants.

True, but speed also stimulates and expands chemicals already in your brain, and was actually once used to treat depression.. after a certain amount of abuse, however, it messes up the brain. I know it's not the same thing, but chemical alteration definitely has an effect.

Maybe it isn't so bad if the child is suffering from severe anxiety, but my main issue is with toddlers. I cannot justify a need for it in any way whatsoever.

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Nothing would be what it is,
Because everything would be what it isn't.
And contrary-wise - what it is, it wouldn't be.
And what it wouldn't be, it would.
You see?

- Lewis Carroll

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Prime Minister for Canyons Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 26906 Canberra Gender:	Re: Children on anti-depressants Reply #14 - Oct 21^st, 2014 at 8:22am I suspect the problem is as much about parents wanting easy solutions than medicos just giving away drugs.
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