What we're seeing happening to children is happening across the board. These antidepressants are being vastly over prescribed, while their dangers are ignored. These antidepressants are actually not approved by the FDA for depressed children. And I think it's just a reflection of the irrational way they're being prescribed across the board that we're seeing them so commonly prescribed to children. Patients describe feeling like punching walls.
Patients can look a lot like people trying to stop smoking cigarettes.
The best thing to do in these circumstances, again, is to taper the antidepressant slowly. They should be fully informed about the risks and side effects, as well as the benefits. And everyone should have periodic reevaluations of whether or not they still need the antidepressant. That should be at least every six months to a year. As part of the reevaluation, they should be updated on side effects that are emerging, and they should have a good look at the alternative treatments to see if one of those or two of those would be better.