Word: prozac
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Here's why: when it comes to depression, the greatest risk may be doing nothing. Recent studies show that suicide rates among adolescents have fallen by about a third over the past decade in those countries that prescribe serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the class of antidepressant drugs that includes Prozac. And just last month the first large-scale, federally funded study of major depression among adolescents found that the best treatment for depression involved a combination of Prozac and cognitive-behavior therapy that aims to improve coping skills. In fact, says the study's leader, Dr. John March of Duke University...
...antidepressants in question are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and are commonly known by their brand names—Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and others. On the whole, they have reliably shown to be successful in treating depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety. Unfortunately, the very real disturbances of the depressed child or adolescent deprived of these medications have been all but pushed aside amid the discussions of the thickness and placement of the label warnings. A child or adolescent who has been identified as having depression accompanied with a high risk of suicidality will be much more likely to entertain...
...innumerable lives in the past. Nor is it constructive in any way to sloppily cover all SSRIs under one homogeneous red flag. Factors vary from one SSRI to the next, and have direct bearing on the risk of suicidal tendencies. Paxil has a much shorter life than Prozac, for instance, and therefore leaves the body much sooner, leading to a “rebound” period during which suicidality is more likely to occur...
...data backs the idea that some antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicide in teens. Debate over the issue, which has been simmering for more than a year, is complicated by the fact that depression alone makes suicide more likely and that the risks vary widely among different drugs. (Prozac, for example, seems to cause fewer problems than other drugs.) A decision by the FDA on new warning labels will probably come in September. Meanwhile, a study of 400 youths, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that Prozac works best when combined with cognitive-behavior therapy...
...Garner's true-crime account, Joe Cinque's Consolation (Picador; 328 pages). He was the good-natured son of Italian migrants who moved from Newcastle to Canberra to live with his sexy law- student girlfriend. She is Anu Singh, the indulged daughter of Sydney doctors whose eating disorders and Prozac popping saw her charge reduced to manslaughter, and who walked away with four years in jail and a masters' degree in criminology. A decade ago, in The First Stone, Garner lifted the lid off a famous sexual harassment case. Unable to speak with the female complainants, Garner raised feminist hackles...