“I cannot help wondering how much of his problem was enhanced or made worse by this drug.”
I was not too surprised to see the list of behavior problems. My son was just sixteen when the diagnosed him with depression. His teachers noticed, people saw and said nothing until he made an attempt at suicide.
We immediately sought medical help, and unfortunately because we have an HMO, were limited to a therapist with little or NO experience in treating his problems. The Psychiatrist who initially saw our Son, prescribed Prozac without a thought, and never informed us of the possible adverse reactions.
Instead of getting better, he got worse. The Therapist (who usually treated ADD juveniles 6- 11 yr. old) was clueless, even after I expressed that I was not comfortable with her treatment. When I suggested she refer us to someone with experience treating teens she stated that she and my son were getting along and not to worry. (She kept telling me how charming my son was).
I even asked that he see a male therapist, because I felt my son was manipulating the situation. No, she (his therapist) would not consider this. In the meantime the psychiatrist, never inquired or saw our son after the first visit.
Things got worse, our son stopped caring about anything, continued to mutilate himself. Finally one night at a friends house they snuck out and almost burned down a barn. It was then that the psychiatrist announced that he was only feeling guilty about what he had done and that they were done treating him? Get this, all of a sudden there was supposed to be nothing wrong with him!
The therapist then had the absolute gall to say to my husband and myself that she would not “get involved with kids and the court system” and that our son should “see a male therapist because she now felt he needed someone who would better understand our Son!!!!
They never mentioned the Prozac, or what we should do. So we took him off the meds, went to court, sold our home and moved. I am not blaming Prozac for our son’s problems, just that it made a bad situation worse. It may have been what pushed him over the line. He simply stopped caring.
This story does have a good ending though. When we moved our coverage location changed. We then were blessed to find Dr. Young Ho Kim a psychiatrist who specializes in treating teens. His new Therapist was a woman, Christine Daley, who although I was doubtful at first, turned out to be both professional and qualified. They treated our Son without ANY drugs. While it was a lot of work I at last felt there was hope. That was a while ago, our son is now in College, and seems to have returned for the most part to normal. I cannot help wondering how much of his problem was enhanced or made worse by this drug.
It was when I heard about the boys in (I believe it was) Kentucky, who pulled the fire alarm at their school and proceeded to shoot people coming out, and when I first heard about the boys a Colombine that I started to wonder. Sure enough it wasn’t long before the details about the boys revealed that they had been treated for problems, and like my son had been given anti-depressants.
I was angered that the first reaction to the crimes were “Where are the parents?”, or that somehow it was the fault of bullies, or TV Please. Only after the fact with all the blame properly labeled to the parents, society, school, the weather, whatever, might you have heard someone whisper the word Prozac. I wonder how many listened.
Ms. D. Abel
7/26/2001
This is Survivor Story number 16.
Total number of stories in current database is 34
