Hi Peter,

As a (non-practicing) psychologist who has wrestled with depression since his early teens -- but didn't seek treatment until a dozen years had passed -- I've followed this recent debate over anti-depressants with a mixture of professional and personal interest.

One social explanation that rarely seems to be raised: perhaps some of these children/adolescents are not seeking help until they (and or their parents) are desperate -- already engaging in serious self-harm ideation, etc.

Then, because these drugs are often touted as "cures" for the problem -- especially in the popular media -- those who do not see quick improvement (or any improvement) after starting a drug regimen might feel particularly hopeless. Thus the suicide rate for depressed-but-medicated teens could become inflated -- not due to a psychopharmacological effect per se, but rather to the psychological stress brought on by the inadequacy of the pharmacological solution.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on this hypothesis or any leads to published research along those lines.

Best,
Steve

My once suicidal brother (now medicated) and I put down fresh mulch in my flower bed this past summer. Together we shoveled it in. It was brutally hot and sunny, much like our family life and our relationship as brothers.

He started telling me what our father (now medicated) said to him after he finished a particularly difficult job for him. Our father asked how much he wanted to be paid for the work. My brother told him "nothing," since he had never repaid what he borrowed over the years. My dad responded "so, take more." I said "really..." and teared up. He hugged me. We continued hurling new mulch over the old.

The punches my father and I threw, because of his depression are never mentioned. Everyone agrees in the family, even him, that it couldn't have happened any other way. The cut on the bridge of my nose healed fine, though my bone ached for six month after. The cut above my eye, requiring stitches, did not leave a scar. My broken pinky knuckle hurt for 13 months before subsiding. Whenever I shook someone's hand with a particularly good grip, I winced. In old age, I know arthritis will remind me of that day.

The mulch was getting to a satisfactory level. Was it enough to stop the weeds? Enough to protect the flowers?

My brothers two children show ostensible signs of depression and having married someone with it (they are now divorced) makes it genetically, almost a sure thing. My brother and I both know the weeds will threaten another generation of flowers and more mulch will be needed. Hopefully medicine will be taken before the root gets too strong and violence is the only way.

I can't help but wonder when each of us in the family is alone, do we all think the same thing... "what was that?" The word depression says nothing about itself. It turns those with it and those without it into something they don't want to be.

The mulch is hight enough now. We stop and greedily chug a glass of water. I'm tired - I want to rest, and i deserve it. The flowers will be here soon. The sun still shines as it did that day. All because of a dollar and ninety-five cent book from the thrift store called "Listening to Prozac," or as I sometimes call it..."The Bible."

While this is a great thing to know, and a boost of confidence in those with prescriptions for antidepressants such as Prozac, http://www.prozac.bz, I do not think it will silence all the people who say antidepressants do more harm than good. I'd wager nothing would ever really get them to shut up about that, really.

My son's 21 year old friend just jumped off the George Washington bridge to her death while on antidepressants prescribed by a physician. This is a real tragedy and will mark her family and friends forever. This is a REAL problem. Maybe these drugs are great for adults--you bloggers seem to be discussing adults--but for young people they have caused this death in a girl who was not suicidal, but trusted her physician. She had a job, and apartment with her sister , and many frends. This is a lot more complicated than these bloggers seem to get. This was a life lost due to inadequate study by big pharma on this population and a failure on the part of the medical community to FIRST, DO NO HARM. It is on them.