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Mr. Wolfe
English 10 Period 2
Mental Depression
There is a lot of controversy surrounding antidepressants and their use on children. Some
say that it hurts the child other than help them. Scientists have been researching and testing
antidepressants heavily as recently suicide rates have gone up since social media has been
playing a huge part in society recently. It is a huge subject that affects the world today and
whether or not antidepressant drugs should be prescribed to children suffering from depression.
Most parents are hesitant to give their child antidepressants as most people believe that it
increases suicidal thoughts. But antidepressants have been proven to be different on almost every
single person. It could make them worse or even better. Now that the epidemic known as social
media has gone around over the years, depression has spiked up and the rates of suicide are
going up even more. There are two sides to this coin and these are it. There are people that
support and say that antidepressants can improve the child's quality of life. Then the other side
states that the use of such drugs can lead to suicidal thoughts. A couple reasons for the people
that say it improves the quality of life is that the antidepressants have been proven to work and
that less antidepressants increase suicide rates. For the opposite side of the coin they say that
Firstly, it has been proven that antidepressants work in most people. Everyone around the
world that has who has taken antidepressants has experienced something different. Some may
have had a bad experience and others may have had a good experience. This means that there is a
lot of opinions and experiences to work off of and give plenty of personal experiences from
different types of people. This increases the chance of improving antidepressants and how they
affect certain types of people. I personally have had a good experience with them. When I was in
8th grade I was depressed mainly because of how I was treated, but I won’t get into it. But did it
solve all my problems. No it did not. Many other people have had worse experiences with the
drug as sometimes it makes no difference. But, another source that explains this comes from the
article writer Feyer, Felice. They go on to explain that “... suicide attempts over 6 years have
gone up…” and so has “ a decline of antidepressants” ( Feyer 2). This is self-explanatory, but the
article is basically stating that since less and less people are taking antidepressants more people
are trying to kill themselves. On this side of the coin it tells people that more and more people
are dying. That is because less people are taking antidepressants. This leads into the next topic
Lastly, for the supporting view they go into how the less antidepressants, the more
suicide rates increase. People who take antidepressants have noticed a difference in this
especially me but that isn’t who this about. Most of the people around have shown a significant
change that has wither helped or made things worse. In a study “11.4 percent of kids experienced
a major depressive episode in previous years” (Albernaz 2). As stated before the amount of
antidepressants being used have been lowered and since that had happened, the amount of
suicides had increased. That also means, supported by this evidence that it also means that more
children are depressed. More than ever before recorded in history. There are also doctors that
experiment with the drug to see what they can do to improve it. In a study “...rate of suicide
thinking decreased among all the groups” (Antidepressant Medications for Children and
Adolescents 18) the ones that were tested on of course. This has begun to show some people that
antidepressants work for people but different type of people have to take different types of
antidepressants. This gives some people some hope to become better. Next, the different point of
Firstly, people speak about how there are other alternatives to antidepressants. People and
scientists have been at the edge of their seats trying to find out other ways to help people with
depression and how to prevent it. Recently, scientists have said that “... teens need to be getting
moderate to vigorous physical activity” (McGinn 8). Saying that studies have shown that it
decreases suicide and most teens that do this everyday. This is a really healthy alternative but
that does not mean there are some flaws in it like there are in antidepressants. The more people
that experimented with this have told a lot of people different things. Most have said that
“physical activity lowers rates of depression” (McGinn 2). This proves that it works for most
people, and this has also been backed up by scientists that study this form of treatment for
Lastly, antidepressants increase suicidal thoughts. This evidence has been reviewed by
many scientists. Some researchers have gone deep into the research of antidepressants. A
scientist by the name of Moragne, Wendy who is an ebook author who said,”...antidepressants
increase suicidal thoughts” (21). With this sort of evidence it tells people it increases suicidal
thoughts, therefore making people stray away from the drug. Which could be a good or bad thing
who knows. Then later the American government interfered with the antidepressant drug. They
“put a warning label” on the antidepressants saying “it may increase suicidal thoughts” (Moragne
21). This tells people that it may or may not meaning it could help someone or make them worse.
Since the government did this it is less likely that someone will prescribe or ask for
antidepressants as they believe that the drug is dangerous to the person, or your own safety.
whether they are harmful or helpful. Both points have their faults but that doesn’t mean a certain
side is correct compared to the other. I believe the first point for the use of antidepressants was
better as the sources made sense. There are also more sources to choose from and more
supporting evidence. Readers should reconsider what and how depression affects the world
today.
Work Cited
Albernaz, Ami. "Report: Depressive Episodes on Rise among Teens, Many Not being.."
Boston Globe, 03 Nov, 2015, pp. G.2. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.
Aubusson, Kate. "Drugs Too often a First-Line Treatment." Sydney Morning Herald, 03 Jul,
Freyer, Felice J. "Study Links Shunning of Drug, Rise in Suicide Tries." Boston Globe, 19 Jun,
McGinn, Dave. "For Children, Exercise may Help Stave Off Depression." Globe and Mail, 03
Moragne, Wendy. Depression. Twenty-First Century Books, 2011. USA Today Health Reports.
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