Word: prozac
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...argues, but Americans are becoming more and more programmed to force their children into a mold. "There is an emotional cost, and eventually there will be a physical cost of taking square and rectangular people and fitting them into round holes," he says. "Performance enhancers--Ritalin, Viagra and Prozac--will remain popular until people question this goal...
When you're 10 years old, you shouldn't have much to be depressed about--or so an adult might think. But just as more and more children are taking Ritalin to calm their hyperactivity storms, a growing number of kids are turning to Prozac and other antidepressants to treat their blues...
Childhood depression is a disturbingly common phenomenon. About 3.4 million Americans under 18 are said to be "seriously" depressed. That's a lot of gloom in a group so young--and a lot of potential consumers for Prozac and its neurochemical cousins Zoloft and Paxil. In North America, up to 800,000 antidepressant prescriptions were written last year for children, some only five years old. A number of those kids were also taking stimulants like Ritalin, since depression can be a by-product of wrestling with ADHD...
Feeling a little depressed? You could get a prescription for Prozac or try psychotherapy. But 7.5 million Americans in the past year have instead gulped down an extract made from a bright yellow flower called St. John's wort--available without a prescription at the health-food store in the mall or at the local Wal-Mart. Fear the onset of cold and flu season? You could get a flu shot. Or, like 7.3 million Americans, you could swallow a capsule made from echinacea, a purple-petaled daisy native to the Midwest. Worried that your memory is fading? Then write...
...some wayward biology as well. In a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry this month, researchers found abnormal levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain, in women who had been free of bulimia for at least a year. That may help explain why drugs like Prozac and Zoloft, which affect serotonin, have allowed a lot of bulimics to stop bingeing. Unfortunately, the pills don't work as well for anorexia. Nor do they offer a simple one-stop cure. Health-care workers must re-educate their patients in how to eat and think about food...