David Evans wrote:
>
> On Fri, 16 Aug 1996 09:29:30 +0100, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> > I wish
> >I could tell just some of the horror stories we have to deal with.
> >Graham Ross
> >ALeRT
> >
> I was amazed at the Pulse article about your campaign.


It's not a "campaign". This matter was raised in a conversation I had
with a Pulse journalist, who had called me on another matter. She asked
about other areas in which we were involved and this was one of them. I
explained, and indeed the article stated, that we are in the "early
days" of a plan to co-ordinate cases of this nature and share evidence
and expert witnesses for the benefit fo all clients in the ALeRT
network,  and to raise the issue for debate. It is unfortunate, as I
indicated in my letter which I think they have published this week, that
the debate that was developed was the overdone and dreadfully boring
"ambulance chasing lawyers" one.

> antidepressants aren't sometimes prescribed inappropriately

What, never?

> it's just
> that everyone agrees that the main problem is that they are not
> prescribed enough.

Not the people I talk to.

>Depression is a serious illness which has generally
> been grossly under diagnosed by GPs and hospital doctors alike

I would be delighted to read a study confirming your claim to gross
underdiagnosis.

In any event what I am saying is simply that we come across cases in
which clients have too readily been put on an anti-depressant regime
which has then "coloured" their lives. This has often been on demand
from the patient and without consultant input. Whether the numbers of
such cases are large or not is not the point. The point is it happens
from time to time . Obvioulsy we only hear the bad news.

You are not seriously disagreeing with me are you that if a
non-depressed patient (but one feeling "low") walks into his GP and
tells him he thinks he is depressed and wants to be put on tablets that
he would NEVER be given them?

I do hope the new initiative by the BMA to send in dummy patients to
test over diagnosis includes depression. That will assist the main
issue.

> Traditionally drugs were reserved for "endogenous" depression , but in
> fact the trend nowadays amongst psychiatrists is towards also using
> them in milder depressed states.

Thank you, my very point!

> >From pulse:
> >Mr Ross told Pulse: "We've got a 19-year old girl with depression
> >shortly after she split up with her boyfriend. She was put on long term
> >medication for what is surely a common teenage problem"
>
> Upset over splitting up with boyfriends is common, but so is suicide
> due to depression, which may well have been precipitated by such an
> incident.
>

But there are better ways to help those patienst cope with such traumas
and so avoid suicide. The dangers of GPs putting patients on
anti-depressants is that they do not have the time to be with the
patient sufficiently when they go on the drugs and to educate the
patients sufficiently about what they will experience should the drugs
precipitate a drug induced akathesia itself leading to suicidal
ideation.


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