results with children on lexapro?

Question

my 16 year old son has seen a therapist once. and she said that he would be a prime canidate for Lexapro. I am scepitcal about side effects and don't want the problem masked

Answer 1

My son (13) recently started lexapro. We have seen amazing results. I completely understand your hesitancy. He had been on other meds when he was younger, but then had a serious reaction when he was 9. He hadn't been on any for the last 4.5 years and things were perfectly fine. However, we experienced many great life changes including divorce, move to another town, starting a new school, etc. He was having major issues and now that we have started the new meds, things are so much better now. I waiting about 6 months before we went to the dr, though to determine if the behavior modifications we had been doing would start working again. Hang in there, it's the toughest job being a parent, especially a parent of a child that has special needs. Take care!!!!

Answer 2

If he is severely depressed and the depression is severely impacting his life, medication might be a good alternative. Medication treats a chemical imbalance in the brain. It's not really "masking" the problem.

My personal experience, not being a doctor but working with child psychiatrists--is there a strong biological component to your child's depression? If he suffers from major depression with suicidal ideation or social anxiety, AND if you have a family history of mental illness (thereby biological), he really is a good candidate for a medication, particularly an SSRI. Meds are good for stabilizing highly unstable people very quickly and they are good for stabilizing people who have brain chemical inbalances. Talk therapy is for people who have environmental or cognitive stressors, preferably with social resources, who can overcome their depression in a long haul effort and that's not always a possibility for people (it can often be a long unpleasant and painful journey that doesn't go entirely medication free).

As far as pills go, Lexapro has very mild side effects. Ignore the comment about Abilify, that's an antipsychotic and they have much worse side effects than SSRIs. Even mental health practitioners can be utterly illogical about how they approach medicating pediatric populations (must be trying to evade black box warning?).

You should consider having this discussion with a child psychiatrist. If the doc is prescription happy you can always get a second opinion. You just have to bear in mind that most psychiatrists treat patients with prescriptions and send their patients to therapists for talk therapy so meds may be their first response. Just share your apprehension and you should have a good dialogue about the pros and cons of medication in young people. fyi--the long term effects of SSRI use in any people, least of all young people, still unknown

Answer 3

the way it happens is complicated, even Byzantine. initiate with the actuality that the final public of pharmaceutical study is funded by using the enterprise attempting to industry a drug. There in simple terms is not any option investment for study to be saved faraway from the flair of bias. to ward off the opportunity of money interfering with technology might advise that progression of recent drugs might come to a screeching halt. additionally, if a doctor is going to spend a good deal of time doing study and going to conferences, it is not unreasonable that he must be paid, or fed a meal on the conferences. no count if that constitutes a bribe is a special judgment. Drug agencies do have a tendency to have a very stressful tendency to no longer positioned up inconclusive study collectively as trumping individuals that coach beneficial outcomes, even whilst the positives are no longer statistically physically powerful. there is incredibly no counter different than contained in the skepticism of the prescribing healthcare professional. that's one reason docs spend so plenty greater time than human beings often comprehend in reading professional journals, going to conferences, and speaking with colleagues.

Answer 4

I like lexapro and it helped me. I was on it for a year + I am 30+, It works, the one side affect was weight gain for me. I also am on Adderall for ADD. It worked well with that.

Answer 5

our mental health clinic usually does not use Lexapro on Children, but we go towards using ablify at a low dose. It all depends on how old the child is.

Answer 6

I'm not a doctor, but putting young people on meds the way they do today is obviously over-medicating in most cases. They are so quick to prescribe powerful chemicals that have serious side effects. I would get a second opinion.

Best Wishes,

Sue

Answer 7

http://antipsychiatry.org

DO NOT GET YOUR SON HOOKED ON PILLS!

My mother introduced me to the psychiatric system at age 18.
I am 30 now. They absolutely DESTROYED MY LIFE!
I have to get injections of a poison. bi-polar and ADD and all those illnesses are subjective. They are not real.
-Your son is a teenager. His hormones are making him change.

PLEASE! DO NOT START HIM WITH PSYCHIATRISTS OR PILLS! DO NOT RUIN HIS LIFE!!!!!


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