A new report is out today indicating a significant jump in the number of teen suicides since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed “black box” warning labels for treatment of adolescents on many SSRI anti-depressants. Both sides have hardened their positions surrounding the efficacy and safety of using these drugs with teens. Having worked with troubled teens for over 15 years and with the mentally ill and emotionally challenged for 21+, you can imagine the side I fall on.
Neither.
Although I have some training in neuropsychology and have worked closely with many good psychiatrists, I am not a physician but a psychologist. So take my words with caution. Talk with a psychiatrist (not just your general practitioner or internist) before making any decisions for or against medications for emotional disorders.
I take neither side because neither side has convinced me that kids are going to get the comprehensive care they need WHETHER THEY ARE ON MEDICATIONS OR NOT. I have seen what happens with troubled kids and trust me, the kids aren’t the problem. You can’t just give someone, especially an adolescent, a bottle of pills and tell them, “see you next month”. Yet, around the country at this very moment that is exactly what happens, particularly if that youth is in foster care or otherwise from a lower socioeconomic situation (something else that isn’t in their control!). Yet the folks who contend that “talk therapy is the only way” are not going to be able to afford the intensive outpatient or residential treatment that will give the teen the environment needed to make change possible. In addition, these programs are constantly being defunded or eliminated because they are so costly (sorry folks, but the care of humans is expensive! But that is for another blog . . . .). And the kids who get this type of level of care because of a foster care placement, don’t get quality service but glorified babysitting by folks who oftentimes barely have a high school diploma (sorry again folks, but a good heart isn’t enough to do this job~yet another point for another blog). Finally, don’t be a LBGT teen. You’d be better off back in the abusive home; at least then you knew the name of the person who was treating you like shit.
Let’s face it. No body is going to pay for the level of care necessary for treating a highly depressed teen. Public or private insurance is not going to allow for the weekly doctor’s visits, as strongly recommended by most child psychiatrists during the first month on any SSRI nor will any insurance company pay for more than a handful of visits to a psychologist, as the proponents of non-medical approaches recommend. The problem isn’t whether to medicate or not. The problem is that grown ups don’t have the resources to commit to the care. Until that is resolved, neither option makes sense.
So much for the village.
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