Depression: Prozac for eight year olds?

No, unfortunately thats not a typo in the headline.

A worrying recent ruling by the European Medicines Agency means that children as young as eight years old can now be prescribed the antidepressant Prozac.

In a statement the EU agency said: The European Medicines Agency has recommended to extend the indication of Prozac and associated names to include the treatment of children of eight years of age or older who suffer from moderate to severe depression and who do not respond to psychological therapy.

Depression: Bureaucracy gone mad?

The EU agency came to this decision after weighing up all the available evidence, which they believe shows that the benefits of the drug outweigh the potential risks. Considering that one of these potential risk factors is suicide, its hard to get your head around exactly what they were thinking when they came to their decision.

Surely risks dont get much worse than this potential threat???

Maybe the agency felt that theyd adequately dealt with this particular problem though when they warned parents and doctors to be on the look-out for suicidal behaviour in children taking these drugs.

Imagine the weight of that responsibility on your shoulders. Youd be living in constant fear and wouldnt want to let your child out of your sight even for a moment.

The agencys Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) who carried out the investigation added that the marketing authorisation holder (MAH), Eli Lilly should carry out further research to ensure that the safety profile of Prozac remains acceptable.

Doesnt that make you feel so much more reassured?

No, I thought not.

Depression: Alternative ways to alleviate depression

The only iota of common sense that I could see in their report is the recommendation that psychological therapy should also be used, with treatment assessed after nine weeks.

But what about addressing other factors too, such as diet for instance?

For example, sugary foods like biscuits, cakes and sweets which, lets face it, most children love need to be avoided if you suffer from depression. They cause a surge of sugar in your bloodstream, which results in a sudden burst of energy and feelings of elation. However, this is only a temporary state, and shortly after the concentration of sugar in your blood stream falls rapidly, leaving you feeling tired and down.

Sufferers of depression should aim to eat more foods containing vitamin B6, which encourages your body to produce more of the feel-good hormone serotonin (Psych Res 1980 3(2) 141- 150). Foods rich in this vitamin include soya beans, lentils and brown rice. 

Oily fish has also been found to be beneficial for alleviating symptoms of depression, so include plenty of mackerel, halibut, sardines and tuna in your diet. One of the reasons for this is that oily fish contains a substance called DMAE (di-methyl-amino-ethanol), which is a brain stimulant that has been found to relieve depression and tiredness (it helps promote better sleep patterns), improve mental alertness and make you feel more energetic (Neuropsychobiology 1977, 3(4) 199-233).

Psychiatrist Dr Joseph R. Hibbelnm conducted research comparing the annual rates of major depressive illness with levels of fish consumption around the world and found that Japan had the lowest apparent rate of depression (0.12 per cent) while New Zealand
(6 per cent) had the worlds highest rate. He found that there was a direct correlation with how much oily fish the population ate: The less fish consumed the higher the rate of depression (The Lancet 1998: 351; 1213).

Exercise can be an excellent way to help lift your mood and maintain good mental health too. This is because exercise releases chemicals in your brain called endorphins powerful mood elevators that give you a natural high.

Sources:

BMJ online, 12 June 2006 Fish oil for pupils may improve behaviour