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December 16, 2003
The Holidays and Happy Pills
A couple of articles in the NY Times today about depression in America and our responses to it. First, the US medical industry (and pharmaceutical industry, I would imagine) is upset over a recent British national medical regulation decision to ban prescribing all anti-depressant drugs, except for Prozac, to children under 18. The British regulatory agency says that they have found no consistent evidence of anti-depressants working effectively on children, and that they tend to produce more bad side effects (ironically, these side effects are suicidal thoughts and behavior, and hostility) than positive benefits. Since they don't work, and since nobody knows what effect anti-depressants have on developing brains, British doctors aren't prescribing them. A summary of their findings is here.
Well don't worry, you can still get Zoloft for your 12 year old here in the good old USA. Doctors here also say they are uncertain about the effects of these drugs on kids, but they will keep prescribing them, with caution. The FDA is currently doing an in-depth study on this same issue, and will report in February.
American doctors and drug regulators say one of the main problems with the British study is that it ignores "the high frequency of suicidal thoughts and attempts among depressed adolescents in general." If "normal" teens are depressed and suicidal anyway, with or without anti-depressants, why not give them a prescription that might or might not make a difference, is that it?
It seems that it's not just teenagers in America who are generally depressed: another article discusses the "holiday blues," and concludes that there's no such thing: we're just all miserable and anxious all the time, and the holiday season adds to our stress and depression because it's cold and dark outside, and we have to spend time with our families. Apparently, visits to psychiatric emergency rooms and actual suicide rates stay flat over the month of December. The doctor writing the article says that he asked an Australian friend of his what he had heard about depression peaking around the holidays, which fall in the middle of summer in Australia, and the friend had no idea what he was talking about. Seems that Americans are just sad and miserable a lot of the time, and identify the Christmas season as the cause. The article concludes, "Let's just call it by its real name everyday unhappiness and do our best to weather the relentless holiday cheer." Now pass the Prozac, little Bobby didn't get the toys he wanted and he's starting to listen to Nick Drake. Happy Holidays!