Too Many Antidepressants Being Prescribed for Kids?

May 12 -- There was a time when Samantha Robertson's anxiety was so severe,she couldn't go to school, to parties or even to sleep without her mother.

"It's kind of embarrassing, because, like, I'd be at a sleepover, and I'd have to go home in the middle of the night," Samantha Robertson said.

"It's scary because you don't know what's going on," said her mother Mary Robertson."You don't know what you've done wrong or should have done, but didn't do."

An Overwhelming Population of Anxious People

Anxiety is the most common psychological illness among American kids, affectingas many as one in ten. When therapy fails, many, like Samantha, are prescribedantidepressant drugs.

After three years on antidepressants, Samantha is now much more comfortableon her own.

"I have more faith in myself," Samantha said.

A new study shows that 76 percent of children with anxiety who took Luvox,an antidepressant in the same family as Prozac and Zoloft, showed significant improvement.

The authors of the study say these drugs are one effective way to prevent this anxiety from leading to even more serious psychological problems.

"The more frightened the children become, the more situations or thing thatthey avoid, then the more anxious they become," explains Dr. John Piancenti of UCLA. "And it's like a downward spiral."

Permanent Damage?

Critics say many doctors are already too quick to use drugs insteadof treatment with kids, and that these antidepressants may be making permanent and damaging changes in children's brains.

"It's really a sad commentary on our society that we want to drug our frightenedand anxious and stressed kids into being 'sit-down and shut-upkids,' rather than paying attention to them, said author Peter Breggin, who wrote Reclaiming Children.

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The authors of the study caution that no child should be prescribedantidepressants without a thorough evaluation. But for children suchas Samantha Robertson, who recently mixed it up at a fifthgrade dance, these drugs can mean liberation from a prison of fear.