< Changing Worldviews.Commentary >

Words are powerful - Thoughts shape - Ideas have consequences

Rhonda Robinson

Maybe they were overlooked, maybe they were ignored, or maybe they were not the important signs at all. We as a society are fairly used to this type of teenage behavior, we have accepted its given name "Goth" and dismissed it as little more than a fad; a fad with an infatuation with death, pain and hopelessness. Warning signs and murder weapons are always sought after a tragedy like this. In light of the new FDA black box warnings that antidepressants have side effects of suicide and violence, forced by a public outcry from parents who have lost their children, perhaps now, police will begin to look beyond guns and websites and peer into the medicine cabinet.

Until recently, family doctors were writing off-label prescriptions for antidepressants (SSRI's) without hesitation. Antidepressants are commonly prescribed as sleep-aids, mild painkillers, as well as for depression in young children and adults alike. Side effects are often countered with another antidepressant, leaving patients little choice other than taking several different antidepressants at a time.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an analysis by Washington State University researchers, ". . . the rate of antidepressant prescriptions for children and adolescents more than tripled in the U.S. from the early 1990s to 2001. In 2002, an estimated 10.8 million prescriptions for the most widely used antidepressants were dispensed for patients under 18 years old . . ." It has been well documented how physicians have been influenced by flawed and misleading clinical trials and reports, for which the FDA is now under the spotlight of investigation.

Dr. David Healy a world-renowned psychiatrist in North Wales has written several papers concerning the deceptive practices that the pharmaceutical companies have used to promote deadly products. One way he describes is ghostwriting. "The practice of ghostwriting academic articles picked up pace in the 1980s, as pharmaceutical companies began to outsource medical writing to medical communication agencies." This has lead to misleading doctors on safety and efficacy of the newest antidepressants.

When you consider that Jeff Weiss lost his father to suicide when he was only 8 years old and two years later lost his cousin in a horrible car accident that left his mother with brain injuries and partial paralysis, and confined to a nursing home; it is no wonder the boy suffered from depression. That would be normal and understandable, anything else would be considered insane. No pill could erase the tragedies in this young boy's life, at least not without waxing his heart cold.

The ease of dispensing a pill is an effortless solution, ultimately turningtragic circumstances with natural sadness and grief into a state of mind beyond all hope and void of inhibition. Consider Jeff's state of mind, his chosen Goth lifestyle, and the FDA's warning, "All pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases."

Although antidepressants are prescribed by body weight, not the level of depression, Jeff's prescription had been increased to 60 milligrams a day of Prozac before bedtime. One week later he awoke and joined the ranks of Eric Harris, also on Prozac - 1999, Columbine. Kip Kinkel, who killed his parents and classmates in 1998 . . . .