Our troops in Iraq take anti-depressants.

[patrice]

Does anyone remember the Army survey about depression being general in the ranks in Iraq a few months ago?

The Army did a survey and found a significant number of depressed troops. The reason for the depression, as I understood the story I read in the K.C. Star, was that they weren't taking their anti-depressants as prescribed. Probably voluntary meds, until someone decides they should be mandatory.

Point is : Many of these troops are barely out of adolescence, in a strange situation, doing strange, violent things.

The rise in suicides amongst the ranks is well known. I don't think anti-depressants, without other supplementary forms of therapy, are safe.

[DuctapeFatwa]

1. Uganda and Sierra Leone have gotten really good results with this strategy

with expendables as young as seven. Their experience will be invaluable to the US as it moves ahead to achieve its military and economic objectives

[salvorhardin]

3. those 21st century jobs

[catchthefever]

2. I took A-Ds

It's been my experience that you should be under the watchful eye of a psychiatrist. One of the meds I took worked great... for a month. Then I hit an all time low and spiralled further than ever. My psych immediately recognized that, and switched me to something else.

As she explained, psychiatric medication is more trial and error than science. The brain is still not understood, and what works for one person has a spiralling effect in another.

[ElectroPrincess]

5. There is some quality science involved ...

Your Doctor put this in "too simple terms". There have been a number of enlightening discoveries in the field of Physiological Psychology. The problems are: 1) we are dealing with individuals who often have idiosyncratic, side-effects or outright paradoxical physiologic reactions to medications; and 2) as one of my Professors lamented, the brain is so complex and interactive, we can NOT apply hard and fast rules even with the same individual over time.

[ElectroPrincess]

4. Good News - Bad News

This is based on my past experience working as an Addiction Counselor for a Battalion of Infantry troops in the early 90s.

It's my clear understanding (and the Army changes slowly) that troops who are screened and identified by the mental health system as "depressives" or "manic depressives" are put on therapy and anti-depressants BUT also simultaneously processed for immediate discharge.

I will do some research on your concerns but the above makes sense because our USA gun law rules PROHIBIT any person on psychotropic medication (mental health drugs) from gun ownership.

Please don't IMHO "get weird" that, when properly prescribed, anti-depressant medications are not often effective when combined with talk therapy.

BTW ... this comment is an aside but it makes "crystal clear" sense that teens should be first screened carefully and monitored closely if prescribed antidepressants because of the "delicate" place of their physical and emotional development. (hormonal shifts in pre- and teen youths)