The Pros And Cons Of Antidepressants

“As of 2013, there are 2,165,279 kids on antidepressants” (CCHR International). Depression is a medical illness that more than 19 million kids in the United States have. This has been happening over the past several years and it can be caused by the genetic, biological, environmental, or psychological factors. Depression can affect anyone’s well-being and it can happen at any age. This is because there are medical imbalances in the brain that can influence anyone’s mood and behavior. Many people believe that antidepressants help kids throughout their day and without them, it could jeopardize their health. On the other hand, there are others that believe that antidepressants are ineffective to one's life in many different ways because

Opponents claim, “that antipsychotics are sometimes necessary to improve the quality of life of children with severe illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and even to keep certain children from harming themselves or others” (Fassler). One cannot deny that kids with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia should be prescribed antidepressants. There aren't many other ways of treating them, since people with bipolar disorder have difficulty with their mood throughout their life, just as kids with schizophrenia have difficulty getting through their day. These prescribed antidepressants make their life easier because it is hard to function in society without them. However, doctors don't always accurately diagnose children with depression but they do it anyway. “Doctors are excessively administering antidepressants to young people after incorrectly diagnosing them with depression” (Smith). This can affect many kids in the way they act because they may not necessarily have any type of depression and they might have another serious illness and they are being prescribed antidepressants that are not necessary. Therefore, the medicine is being prescribed and used excessively in younger children because of incorrect

There aren’t many cases where a child is required to get psychotherapy instead of prescribing the antidepressants. “Rarely does a clinical switch to an empirically proven psychotherapy like cognitive behavior therapy after a patient fails to respond to medication, although these data suggest that this might be the right strategy” (Friedman). Therapy will help to treat kids with depression because it lets the therapist see how their brain works during their daily life. “Indeed between 2000 and 2003, antidepressant use among children rose by 20% and grew by 49% among preschoolers” (Sun). Antidepressants have increased almost by half on preschooler when they could be getting therapy that would be to their advantage in their life because they are just starting their life and getting to know themselves. As for children, therapy will be convenient for them because they would get to know how they really feel and what they need help on with a therapist doing different exercises, to come to a conclusion on how serious their depression might be. “It's expected that many [health professionals] will stop prescribing these drugs and instead refer patients with suspected depression to mental health professionals” (“What are The Real Risk Of Antidepressants?”). With time, many professionals will stop prescribing these harmful drugs to these teenagers, and