Depression in young people is vastly undertreated. About two-thirds of depressed youth don’t receive any mental health care at all. Of those who do, a significant proportion rely on antidepressant medications.
Since 2003, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that young people might experience suicidal thinking and behavior during the first months of treatment with antidepressants.
The FDA issued this warning to urge clinicians to monitor suicidal thoughts at the start of treatment. These warnings appear everywhere: on TV and the internet, in print ads and news stories. The most strongly worded warnings appear in black boxes on medication containers themselves.
We are professors and researchers at Harvard Medical School, the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and University at Buffalo. For over 30 years, we have been studying the intended and unintended effects of health policies on patient safety.
Fewer depressed youths got treatment
Our findings align with a growing body of research that confirms these warnings have had serious unintended effects: scaring many patients, as well as their parents and doctors, away from both antidepressant medications and psychotherapy that can reduce major symptoms of depression.
To read more of Ross Koppel and Stephen Soumerai's article, please click here.
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