Children's Use Of Anti-Depessants

Paper Summary:

Discussion of the expanded use of psychotropic drugs among young children. Issues of prescribing habits of physicians and whether an epidemic of childrenhood depression exists. Problem of over-medication & lack of a policy or protocols or prescriging anti-depressants. Discusses several studies on the use of anti-depressants by children and adolescents.

From the Paper:

"Children and Anti-Depressants

In the United States, the number of children aged six to twelve who were prescribed Prozac quadrupled from 51,000 in 1995 to 203,000 in 1996. It is the view of George Halasz (1998) that in order to justify increased prescribing of antidepressants to children; the medical profession has declared an epidemic of childhood depression. Estimates of the extent of the problem indicate that about 3.4 million Americans under the age of 18 are said to be "seriously" depressed. In North America, up to 800,000 antidepressant prescriptions were written in 1997 for children, some of whom were only five years old (Kluger, 1998). A number of these children were simultaneously taking stimulants, such as Ritalin, because depression is often a byproduct of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, as Kluger ..."

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