As soon as this becomes available online I will add the article text here.

Here is what I sent to the editorial dept.


I was appalled when I saw the cover of this month's Dallas Child. The headline "Depressed? Your Child Might be Too" quickly alerted me that inside would be another effort to get people to have themselves and their children screened for depression. That would be fine if the article mentioned even once the potential for therapy or even combined therapy with medication. But there was only a mention of finding "the right medication." Unfortunately the article also did not point out the risks of medication, and painted medication as completely safe and effective. Nothing could be further from the truth.



Approximately 1% to 10% of adverse events get reported to the FDA monitoring program. Thousands upon thousands of these adverse events involve agitation, suicidal thinking, murder, suicide, psychotic breaks, etc. Many long-term physical problems result from taking antidepressants, and the psychiatric side effects are incredibly significant. How long will it be before people give the former victims of these drugs the attention they deserve? The tragedies that have been caused by them should be a wake up call to everyone who even mentions the word "antidepressant."



Despite black box warnings and talk from the FDA and patient advocacy groups about the increase in violence and suicide with antidepresants, it seems that many people & news oranizations go on pretending that the drugs are completely safe. What possible service could Dallas Child believe it is offering by pressing more Dallas area moms to buy into all the hype about medication?



Glaxo Smith Kline just voluntarily released data proving that Paxil causes suicides in adults (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/health/12depress.html?_r=2&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin and http://chaada.org/smf/index.php?topic=203.msg428). More voluntary studies from other manufacturers are forthcoming. Clinical trials do not always catch all the problems, but even clinical trials show that antidepressants are no better than active placebo and only marginally better than active placebo. Many studies have been conducted, but not published which show the drugs are much worse than placebo. Laws currently do not require that all studies, even negative ones are published, but some of this data has been released in various ways, primarily through court proceedings or the Freedom of Information Act. Congress is considering reforming the law to force scientific investigators to release all information about drug trials or studies.

Many patients in clinical trials for antidepressants discontinue the drug and drop out of the studies due to side effects. Only Prozac is approved for children under 18. Long-term use of antidepressants also causes increased relapse (http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/62/5/633).

And a significant number of patients taking SSRIs develop mania or bipolar disorder and are subsequently treated with incredibly dangerous antipsychotic drugs, which lead to increased death from medical causes, and two to six times more suicides than non-medicated schizophrenic populations (http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/antipsychotics.html).



Dallas Child is a tremendous presence in our area. Many parents turn to Dallas Child for answers. Your magazine should take its responsibility very seriously. Many people who read your article could potentially start taking these drugs for the first time, believing they are safe. They could put their children on them as well. Some of these people may commit suicide or murder, simply because they were on dangerous psychotropic drugs.



Please in the future do not report in such a biased way. The pharmaceutical industry has billions and billions to spend on their own advertising and does not need any free promos for their drugs.



Amy Philo

Frisco, TX

oops! I just found a goof in my letter... I said active placebo twice in one sentence when I meant to say inert the second time. Oh well, they probably won't read that far anyway! I never got a response or saw my letter printed last time.

I wouldn't doubt it for a minute if they were paid off, but I can't accuse them of that without any backup or evidence...

Apparently they published my letter... someone told me they saw it. I will have to go hunting now to see if there are any copies of June Dallas Child left!