Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Overprescribing Prompted Warning on Antidepressants
New York Times article - "The government's warning on Monday that people newly taking antidepressants can become suicidal and must be closely monitored grew at least in part from a concern that the drugs were being handed out too freely and without enough follow-up, especially in children and teenagers.Advertisement Dr. Wayne K. Goodman, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine and a member of an expert panel that advised the Food and Drug Administration, said, 'I think many physicians, and particularly nonpsychiatrists, have been lulled into the notion that these drugs are safe.' ... Yesterday many doctors acknowledged that the new warning was sound advice and yet said they worried it might discourage doctors and patients from treating depression."  
  

More family doctors prescribe antipsychotic drugs
Wall Street Journal story in the SFGate (California) - "The Food and Drug Administration's warning on antidepressants this week is likely to add fuel to a separate debate about an even more powerful class of mental-health drugs. A growing number of general physicians are now prescribing potent drugs called atypical antipsychotics. The drugs are approved for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. General physicians are also prescribing the drugs for people with persistent depression, elderly patients with dementia, and children with severe behavioral problems..."