 Depression
among children seems to be happening quite regularly in our
society. We are seeing more and more children being prescribed
medications for psychological problems that may be helped
by more conservative means.
But what are the consequences of these medications for our
children? These drugs don’t cure depression and there
is no scientific evidence of what is really causing the depression.
If you listen to one popular TV commercial for antidepressants
they even tell you that the cause is not known just before
they explain how their drug affects the brain chemistry to
cure depression at the source.
I have seen many children on antidepressants and most of them
and/or their parents want to discontinue them. The children
mostly say that they don’t like the way it makes them
feel and their parents say that their child is a different
person when on the drugs.
The August, August 20, 2004 New York Times had an article
entitled “Antidepressant Study Seen to Back Expert”
by Gardiner Harris. This article told of studies that indicated
children who take antidepressants have an increased chance
of committing suicide.
“Dr. Andrew D. Mosholder, a senior epidemiologist at
the Food and Drug Administration who assesses the safety of
medicines, found last year that 22 studies showed that children
given antidepressants were nearly twice as likely to become
suicidal as those given placebos.”
Dr. Mosholder’s bosses at the FDA silenced his recommendations
and started a new analysis of the study.
“In his memo, dated Monday, Dr. Mosholder said that
the results of the new analysis, undertaken in part at Columbia
University, matched his own. Though the two studies used different
methods and different numbers, they came to similar conclusions,
Dr. Mosholder wrote in the internal memo. A copy of the memo
was made available to The New York Times.”
“In the new analysis, Paxil, which is manufactured by
GlaxoSmithKline, and Effexor, made by Wyeth, have been found
to be even more likely to lead children to become suicidal
than Dr. Mosholder's original analysis found, his memo says.”
With evidence like this you would think that the government
would ban these drugs for use with children. A researcher
who has done research on drug use in depressed children, Dr.
Graham Emslie, whose studies are paid for by both the drug
makers and the National Institute of Health said he still
thinks the benefits of the medicines outweigh any risks. My
feelings are that if he is paid by the drug companies he is
probably going to say that their products are safe for job
security.
Even overseas, “British health authorities declared
that a list of popular antidepressants might sometimes increase
the risk of suicidal behavior in children and teenagers, and
declared all but one — Prozac — unsuitable for
depressed youth”.
I guess the British REALLY like Prozac and feel that everyone
in the UK needs to be on it because it is now found in their
drinking water! That’s right, a Reuters report on August
8, 2004 was headlined “Report: Prozac Found in Britain's
Drinking Water.” I have been worried about fluoride
in the water!
Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats,
said it looked ``like a case of hidden mass medication upon
the unsuspecting public.'' This is just another good reason
to use distilled drinking water.
There is also chance that the Prozac found in the drinking
water could come from sewage because so many people in the
UK are on Prozac. The Observer newspaper in London said that
prescription of anti-depressants has surged in Britain. In
the decade up to 2001, overall prescriptions of antidepressants
rose from 9 million to 24 million a year.
If you can reduce the chances of you child committing suicide
if they were depressed wouldn't’t you? If it were my
child I would never have them put on drugs that showed a chance
of suicide as a side effect.
There is success in holistic health care to get the body to
function properly again so that we don’t have to deal
with depression or other emotional symptoms. But it is not
as easy as taking a pill. This usually requires lifestyle
changes, changes in the way we eat, sleep and exercise. Maybe
we will even need changes in our environment.
The philosophy that I was taught by my mentors is never treat
the problem, in this case depression. In my practice I treat
the person, by this I mean that we must look at what is not
balanced in the body. In the beginning of this article I mentioned
that there is no scientific evidence of what causes depression,
although, there are several problems that we, Applied Kinesiologist,
find anecdotally in people with depression.
One is that they may have functional
thyroid problems. Their thyroid gland may not be in enough
trouble to see changes on a blood test but there are shades
of gray before pathological dysfunction. Other factors that
may also be a concern are functional
adrenal gland problems, and hypoglycemia.
To prevent some of the above mentioned problems we always
have to go back to how we eat. A person who wants to achieve
health needs to eat a diet consisting of whole foods, and
avoid refined and/or processed sugars and food
allergies/sensitivities. These foods should optimally
be free range and organic.
There may be environmental issues that can cause emotional
symptoms. One may be lack of sunlight as seen with Seasonal
Affective Disorder. This may be helped with increased sunlight
or artificial means of obtaining full spectrum rays. Artificial
tanning can be very beneficial and can have quick results
but make sure that you check with someone who is certified
to establish safe tanning rates for the individual. Usually
there must be a certified person working in the salon to question
about the person’s health.
Another environmental factor may be airborne toxins and/or
allergens. Dr. Doris Rapp was one of the nation’s top
medical allergists when she realized the power of natural
treatments to help children with environmental allergy problems.
She was so amazed by the results that she stopped her conventional
medical treatments and started using more natural treatments.
The children that she works with show emotional problems when
exposed to these toxins/allergies. Some even became extremely
violent at times. The scary thing is that some of these substances
were found in places where children spend a good part of their
lives—in their classrooms.
Children and young adults should also get adequate amounts
of sleep at night in a totally dark room. There should be
a minimal amount of artificial light at night when we are
supposed to be sleeping so that our pineal gland can secrete
the proper hormones for our circadian rhythm. This means no
staying up late watching TV, playing video games and/or using
the computer. There was a study done with healthy teenage
students who were deprived of sleep and within a short period
of time they started showing signs of hypoglycemia which can
contribute to emotional symptoms as mentioned above.
Since it is difficult at times to find these problems through
standard medical testing I recommend finding a doctor who
is certified and/or specializes in applied
kinesiology and utilizes conventional medical testing
along with functional testing to find the hidden determinants
that are causing the problems.
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