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Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

theguardian.com

351–360 of 561 posts

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, us too. Beats us. Sure wasn't around our house, and we can't imagine any family/friends/TV/whatever he may have learned it from.

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You seem to have your mind thoroughly made up, which should raise a flag that you might be suffering from a bad case of Dunning-Kruger, and need to re-ask questions you think you already know the answers to.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main issue I see is that the anxiety pill is a way to treat the symptoms, not the cause. Do you think that there is a way to treat the underlying cause and not the symptoms?

How do you know an anxiety pill is treating symptoms only? What if the cause is physiological, and the pill treats that? It is entirely possible to sit in your therapist's office and mutually shrug because neither of you can find an underlying reason for your anxiety. Sometimes anxiety just is.

I had severe anxiety/depression and majorly recovered from the anxiety component through a year of dilligent transcendental meditation. It changes the brain structure and neurochemistry.

I was on medication during that period and it complemented my practice, provided a stable base to apply meditation and other recovery protocols.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this age I am teaching emotional regulation on a daily basis. As for when they grow up, adults who cannot manage their emotions get fired or are sent to jail. It is critical to be slow to anger, quick to forgive, and work at building strong friendships.

It sounds like you're actually teaching your children to hide their emotions from you

They're welcome to share their emotions but poor behavior isn't acceptable. Anger is fine. Yelling isn't. We'll talk it though. Tonight i got yelled at 3 times for not helping. I asked why I got yelled at. "Because I was angry". The anger wasn't justified but real so we discussed. I got a hug shortly after. No discipline. Just patience.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#355

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Fluoxetine is one of two medicines listed in WHO Model List of Essential Medicines for the treatment of depression since 2007 (use of other SSRIs are also allowed)[1]. The listing means it has proven to be safe and effective enough that WHO believes it should be readily available in every healthcare system. You will need much more than a Wikipedia article listing side effects for the entire drug class, without incidence rate, to convince people these drugs aren't what they seem.

Also relevant to this article, WHO since 2023 does not recommend Fluoxetine (or any antidepressants) for children younger than 12 years[2].

[1]: https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/17642505-ecd...

[2]: https://list.essentialmeds.org/recommendations/313

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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It’s pretty tough to exercise or clean your house when getting out of bed feels like an insurmountable task. Depression isn’t like an infection or cancer—it’s a diagnosis based on established criteria, as are most mental disorders. Experts may disagree on diagnosis or treatment, but that doesn’t make it useless. By that logic, you might as well say autism is caused by avoiding eye contact—since there’s no blood test…

I'm autistic by some measure. Eye contact is uncomfortable but I push myself. I avoid it most of the time but yet play the game and do my best.

I'm finally at the point where I'll keep eye contact until I've completed the social requirement.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#357

I was very young when my mom started Prozac but do remember how angry and sad she was before compared to after. Years later there was a time when me and my sister noticed our mom was acting a bit strange -- more snappish and irritable than usual, and she even started dressing differently. Then at dinner she announced proudly that she had been off Prozac for a month. My sister and I looked at each other and at the sam…

> Pills are for people who feel depressed but don't have something to be depressed about -- they have food, shelter, friends, opportunities to contribute and be productive, nothing traumatic has happened, but they feel hopeless anyway This warrants a whole different discussion, and I'll be down voted for it, but one that's never addressed: quality over quantity. Pills are the individuals response to a society that fe…

I agree with your perspective but these things are on a spectrum. For very severe cases medication can be highly helpful and supportive, as they move to find their meaning and purpose. Each person’s situation is unique and I think blanket judgements are unhelpful.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#358
post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's unfortunate. Ask they why they are depressed and see if there is any way to fix it.

You are very, very extremely inexperienced in this area, as anyone who deals with or has someone in their close family that deals with serious, life-threatening depression will tell you. And that's okay! I would encourage you to look at the number of comments from different people who have a history of dealing with this kind of thing for a long time.

I'm reading them. What responsibility does an individual have over their situation.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#360
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you believe it's both "no better than placebo" but also that it's "going to have his brain chemistry altered and essentially be addicted to a drug". SSRIs are not considered addictive, though people can develop a dependence if it provides them significant improvement.

The whole point of the linked article is that the drug is no better at placebo at treating depression but also carries a host of known side effects, besides unknowns when it comes to long term use. They're not saying it's inert.

That's fair, though I never implied that there were no side effects. The part I was trying to point out in the quote was the mention of it being addictive which is not really supported, nor is that mentioned in the article.
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