Prozac won’t solve children’s problems
COMMENTARY
Jordan Blum

Imagine a third grader who gets his lunch money stolen on a regular basis by an older bully. This begins to happen fairly often and the boy gets more upset and cries more often when he gets home.

His parents find out. What should they do?

Maybe they could tell the principal. Teach the child to stand up for himself.

Nah, let’s just put him on Prozac: America’s favorite depression wonder drug.

Now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Prozac for children 8 years and older who suffer from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, similar scenarios to the one mentioned above may become commonplace.

The FDA claims that up to 25 percent of children suffer from depression. However, only 8 percent of teen-agers suffer from depression. These statistics look a little on the outlandish side.

I don’t have the means or scientific knowledge to conduct my own study, yet it seems very hard to believe that more than twice as many 8-year-old children are depressed than 15-year-old children.

We’ve all been through adolescence and it is pretty hard to imagine any period being more depressing than the one immediately following puberty. Is scientific evidence really necessary to prove this little tidbit of common sense?

Also, the FDA is pulling off this bold move after admittedly performing little pediatric testing.

Of course pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers aren’t complaining because they’re making a lot of money. Psychiatrists will get more patients when parents want drugs prescribed for their children. At this point, money might just be sneaking its greedy little head in as a motivating factor.

Decide for yourself if this all seems a little too convenient.

Now let’s study the side effects: nausea, tiredness, nervousness, dizziness and difficulty concentrating. And, with children, the use of Prozac is proven to delay growth as well.

So, children who are tired, nervous, sickly, who also probably need to be put on Ritalin since they’re having trouble concentrating in school, are now suddenly also among the shortest in the class.

That can’t be how it’s supposed to work. As someone who had a late growth spurt, I can personally attest that looking up to all the girls in class is not particularly good for self esteem either, much less for the neck.

Kids are going to deal with problems. Period. Unfortunately, there will always be bullies, back-stabbing friends, overbearing parents and so on. The key here is for parents to do their jobs and seek counseling when necessary. Only in extreme cases should Prozac become a viable option for children. Also, do we really want to pump our children full of drugs when we have no idea of the long-term effects?

Besides, if parents are so intent on getting drugs for their children, it might be a safe bet that they’re the ones who really need psychiatric help.

News editor Jordan Blum is a senior broadcast journalism major from New Orleans.
He can be reached at (j.d.blum@tcu.edu).