Sacramento Bee, "Warning spurs caution on antidepressants in kids"

          There's a lot of hand-wringing going on in doctors' offices now that the federal government is poised to throw a wrench into the widespread practice of prescribing antidepressants to children. Since federal health officials released their warning that children and adolescents are more likely to commit suicide when prescribed the drugs, doctors are debating how to handle the estimated 3 percent to 5 percent of kids who suffer from depression.
          An FDA advisory committee this month recommended adding a "black box" warning to the labels of antidepressants. The decision came after committee members determined that, except for Prozac, industry studies did not prove the drugs effective for kids with depression and that they resulted in an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents.
          Why some young people seem to get worse on antidepressants instead of better is a matter of speculation and debate.What is clear is that use of the drugs, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, has surged in the United States in recent years. The FDA reports that doctors wrote 11 million prescriptions for SSRIs for teens and children in 2002.