According to one of his friends' account in this Chicago Tribune article, Jeff Weise (the kid who shot up the Minnesota school) had been taking antidepressants.
I can't help but wonder if the drugs were a major contributor to an already messed-up kid.
Most teens' brains are not yet developed and stable enough to have adult chemical stimulation function "normally". Doping a kid up can very easily backfire.
WHEN are people going to realize that antidepressants often, in teens (as in bipolars), make the imbalance worse?
2 comments:
It is a balance issue.
I do not know all the chemical specifics, but "depression" is presumably caused by a lack of a certain neurotransmitter. Let's call it N(x).
The anti-depressant drugs supply the ability to produce N(x). Yet, too much is sometimes worse than not enough.
For those who genetically can produce N(x), another neurotransmitter (N(y)) periodically removes or neutralizes it. A certain percentage of individuals do not produce N(y), including some of those who do not produce N(x). An overabundance of N(x) creates its own behavioral problems.
Likely, the Minnesota person was one of these. Too much N(x) is is worse than not enough.
Agreed. Balance is the crux (and I do speak from experience). Most teens, like us bipolars, teeter on the precipice every day.
I have read countless reports of teens whose minor depression turned to attempted (or successful) suicide or murder after having been put on antidepressants of one sort or another.
I don't understand why this practice continues.
We do not know enough about the effects of these chemicals on the still-developing brain. Are the pharmaceutical companies using kids as guinea pigs, or are they simply selling with no conscience, and hoping nobody catches them at it?
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