Wilmette, IL (March 22, 2004) The Balanced Mind Foundation (The Balanced Mind Foundation) today praised the Food and Drug Administration for issuing a Public Health Advisory stating the potential for increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions from medications used to treat depression.

The Balanced Mind Foundation Executive Director Martha Hellander, J.D., hailed the new warning as "a wake-up call that these powerful and lifesaving drugs used to heal depression may trigger a paradoxical response in some children that parents need to know about. The risks are higher in depressed children with a family history of bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depression) or who have existing symptoms of mania.” She added, “Well-meaning doctors fail to ask about a family history of bipolar disorder, fail to warn parents about suicidality and the life-threatening nature of depression, and rarely warn parents about the rare but serious side effects of antidepressants in some people.”

In a recent The Balanced Mind Foundation survey of its members regarding antidepressant use and suicidality among their children, close to 500 parents reported that their children first became suicidal after taking the medications, ranging from within 24 hours to more than six months later. Parents reported children as young as six years old who talked of wanting to make themselves dead or who attempted suicide immediately or shortly after starting on antidepressants. Testimony also included success stories of depressed children whose lives were changed for the better after treatment with the medications. All were credible eyewitness accounts of the effects, both positive and negative, of antidepressants in children, said Hellander in written testimony presented to the FDA in February.

The Balanced Mind Foundation asked the FDA to require pharmaceutical companies to tell doctors and parents of the potential for antidepressants to trigger or worsen suicidality, mania or rapid-cycling bipolar disorder in some children. The Balanced Mind Foundation also called for more research on why a subset of children, such as those with a genetic vulnerability to bipolar illness, appears to have a paradoxical reaction to antidepressants.

The FDA Public Health Advisory asks pharmaceutical companies to change the labeling of ten antidepressant medications. It also cautions physicians to be particularly careful in monitoring patients who may have bipolar disorder or a family history of the illness.

Bipolar illness in children, like ADHD, may result in difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, sleep disturbances, and irritability. Symptoms also include elated mood, grandiosity, euphoria, daredevil acts, flight of ideas, hypersexualtiy, and pressured speech. A family history of bipolar illness, especially in a parent or grandparent, is thought to convey a genetic vulnerability to the younger generation.

Bipolar disorder is a life-threatening medical condition with a mortality rate of over 10% from suicide, and children of any age who are showing troubling symptoms should be evaluated and treated by a child psychiatrist.

The Balanced Mind Foundation is a national, not-for-profit organization devoted solely to education, support, and advocacy for families raising children with bipolar illness. The Balanced Mind Foundation’s Web site, www.thebalancedmind.org, offers an extensive online library, listings of research studies open to children, message boards, a database of doctors, free online support groups, a gallery of children’s art, and more.

*(The Balanced Mind Foundation written comments can be viewed at http://www.thebalancedmind.org/learning/reference/articles/02-03-04.htm.)

# # #

The Balanced Mind Foundation
1187 Wilmette Ave., P.M.B. #331
Wilmette, IL 60091

Contact:
Sissy Allen
Public Policy Manager

The Balanced Mind Foundation
P.O. Box 2186
Williamsburg, VA 23187-2186

Office: (757) 253-7589
Fax: (757) 258-1419