Research Paper on:
Prescription Rates and Side Effects of Antidepressants

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
and violence. Antidepressant use has also been linked to adverse effects in fetal development and pregnant women. Despite these concerns, the use of antidepressants has continued to increase. Critics believe  that most of this is caused by physicians who are not trained in the treatment of depression prescribing antidepressants and are influenced by the advertising campaigns by the pharmaceutical companies.  While placebos have been found to also show an improvement in depressed patients, researchers believe that this lends to the psychological benefit of therapy as treatment which is often deemed  as more expensive and time consuming for the populations seeking treatments today for themselves or their children. The results of a recent survey  conducted by the University of North Carolina in 1999 found that of the nearly 600 family physicians and pediatricians who responded 72% said that they had prescribed antidepressants to children  under the age of 18. Of those doctors who prescribed the drugs, only 16% reported that they felt comfortable in doing so. In addition, only 8% reported that they had  any clinical training on the treatment of childhood depression (Shute et al, 2000). While physicians seem to be prescribing antidepressants to children, most do not have the time for follow-up  treatment as well. Peter Jensen, a professor of child psychiatry at Columbia University reports that "pediatricians and family practitioners should not be prescribing these drugs for children under 18. They  dont have the time or the skills. This is a complicated area of medicine" (Shute et al, 2000). The United States and its increased use of psychiatric drugs for treatment  have come under international scrutiny. During a recent United Nations panel, it was reported that the United States consumes 80% of the worlds supply of methylphenidate, the generic name for