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June 10, 2016.
According to a study conducted by researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, Great Britain, giving antidepressants to children or adolescents is totally ineffective.
Only one effective antidepressant: Prozac
A study published in the British scientific journal The Lancet, Thursday June 9, reveals that most of the antidepressants available on the market would not be more effective than simple placebos. To reach these conclusions, the researchers examined the medical data of more than 5,200 young people aged 9 to 18, of different nationalities, who had been prescribed 14 different antidepressants.
“In this meta-analysis, we included trials of amitriptyline, citalopram, clomipramine, desipramine, duloxetine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, imipramine, mirtazapine, nefazodone, nortriptyline, paroxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine, ”explains Dr Andrea Cipriani, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford.
No obvious benefits of antidepressants
And out of these 14 antidepressants, only fluoxetine (found in Prozac) had more benefits than risks in relieving symptoms of depression. Worse: Venlafaxine has been linked to an increased risk of suicidal thoughts. Nortriptyline was found to be the least effective and imipramine the least well tolerated.
” Antidepressants do not seem to offer clear benefit in children and adolescents », Explain the authors of the study. According to them, “ fluoxetine is probably the best option when drug therapy is indicated “.
The study also reveals that 2.8% of children aged 6 to 12 and 5.6% of adolescents suffer from major depressive disorder in developed countries. Rates that could even be underestimated as this state of depression is so difficult to diagnose in young people.
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