Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Posted here Wednesday, June 02, 2004 at 4:10:58 PM     The difficulty of evidence. Health Prozac Appears Safe, Effective in Teens By E.J. Mundell HealthDay Reporter http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2004/06/02/hscout519310.html WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDayNews) -- While it may not settle the debate entirely, preliminary findings from a major U.S. government-funded study suggest that antidepressants do not raise the risk of suicide in adolescents.   Reducing ill effects to suicide is a rather rough measure of what may be psychological dependence, ego depleting (I am ok because I tkae pills), prelude to otehr ways of mood management from drugs.  There were 378 adolescents, or about 90 per group of four combiantions of prozac and talk. In the prozac only ther were five of six attempted suicides.Lets say that for half the kids prozac helps depression and for half it does not. a double rate in the "not helped group" would indaicte a low rate, but double for the not helped group that if the norm was 6 for a whole group of 90. The numbers however are so small, one wonders at the wisdom of data presentation, especially when 5 of the six attempts were in the prozac only group! But the deeper isues are the psychological and social - and the way the reporter bannered the story. and then the quote! However, "people who are concerned about this issue can be reassured" by the results of the new research, said Dr. Marvin Lipkowitz, chairman of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City. "The take-home message," he said, "is that the medication is, overall, excellent -- there's no question." ********