Teenager bludgeoned his father to death after a GP prescribed him Prozac response

After reading this article it made me question just how much assessment goes into prescribing medications of this class. I'm sure there were other things that added to this situation and this boys stress and anger but in no way would I make this acceptable or excusable because of the drug. I feel as though both doctors should have been in touch with one another and the boys parents should be clearly warned of what down sides may occur. As well as being on this medicine I think it should be a requirement that you need to see a therapist for further help. I believe the medicine and someone to help you sort out and deal with your issues and problems is what needs to be done. I'm sure most people would be resilient but if this is what the result of that is then I think its more then rational. This is only a notch in the belt to other articles which I think should make people alarmed, and pro active.

Teenager bludgeoned his father to death after GP prescribed him Prozac

A teenager bludgeoned his father to death with a hammer and crowbar weeks after a GP prescribed him the controversial anti-depressant Prozac.
Edward Belben, 15, battered his father Gary at least 30 times with the weapons before plunging a knife into his head.
He then attacked his mother, Tanya, 43, with the bloody crowbar and stabbed her in the face with some scissors before she managed to escape.
Belben, now 17, was today convicted of murder and attempted murder after a jury heard he had fallen in with a 'bad crowd' and started taking a cocktail of street drugs including cannabis, cocaine, crack cocaine and amphetamines.
But during the trial the court was told two GPs ignored national guidelines when prescribing him anti-depressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which have been linked with a range of side-effects including suicide and violence.
Belben was given Citalopram by one GP, Dr Imran Ramjan, even though its use with under-18s was banned in 2003.
When the schoolboy complained of feeling in a 'dream-like state', another doctor at the practice, Teresa Thomas, put him on daily 20mg dose of Prozac - the only SSRI still allowed for children - despite warnings that 12-18-year-olds should start on 10mg.
Belben was also not given any psychiatric help prior to taking the drugs, contrary to National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance in 2005 that pills should not be the 'first line' remedy for depression in under-18s.
Describing his mental state in the lead up to the attack, he later told a psychiatrist: 'I didn't feel real.'

Gary Belben was battered to death by his son, who then plunged a knife into his head
The GPs who prescribed the drugs could now face a fitness to practise hearing in front of the General Medical Council, which has the power to suspend them or strike them off.
Mental health charities yesterday warned many GPs still routinely hand out SSRIs because of a shortage of mental health experts in the NHS.

In September that year he was given Citalopram but switched to Prozac in November after complaining of the side-effects.
On December 17, the teenager attacked his father, a 59-year-old mechanic, at the family home in Colchester, Essex.
Prosecutor Martyn Levett(CORR) said: 'The defendant took the hammer and hit him on the top of the skull, fracturing it, and then with either the hammer or crowbar or both continued to hit him on top of the skull about 30 times.
'The skull fractured so seriously bits of brain fractured off onto the weapons and also the defendant's clothing.
'After using the weapons to kill the man, experts believe the defendant then plunged the carving knife into his brain.'
Consultant clinical pharmacologist Dr Andrew Herxheimer(CORR), who examined Belben, said: 'The most striking thing he told me was... "a sudden thing came up in my head and I had to do it".'

response to "Antidepressant labels to carry new warning of life-threatening side effect"

what exactly in an SSRI and SNRI causes this? and how come up until now it wasnt printed on a lable? I'm curious to know how many deaths have occured and in what age brackets. During all of my research it seem that this catagory of drug is not wel marketed in letting patients know all side effects including the ones that could happen while pregnate. and "With one in 10 Americans taking prescription antidepressants" thats a lot of possiblity for things to go wrong. Something i dont think we should be gambling with. With so many people on this drug there must be some new focus on trying to modify it. "tripling of prescriptions since 1988.". I would like to know why the prescirption rate as trippled. why are people more and more depressed and why are prescirptions so easly writen? its seems to me that any tom dick and hary could walk into a docotors office and be prescribed an SSRI,SNRI.

Antidepressant labels to carry new warning of life-threatening side effect

The FDA has ordered a wide range of antidepressants to carry new warnings of an unusual but potentially deadly side effect seen most often in the first few weeks of treatment or when a patient increases dosages. The labels of two classes of new-generation medications for depression -- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) must now notify patients that malignant neuroleptic syndrome has been linked to the use of these drugs. labels to alert patients of the danger were those making Celexa, Cymbalta, Effexor, Lexapro, Paxil, Pexeva, Pristiq, Prozac, Venlafaxine and Zoloft. In Malignant neuroleptic syndrome, patients experience muscle rigidity, extreme variations in body temperature and wild fluctuations of heart rate and blood pressure -- all signs of malfunction in the body's autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary body functions. Malignant neuroleptic syndrome has been associated with older antipsychotic medication such as haloperidol, lithium salts and risperidone. But the widespread use of SSRI and SNRI antidepressants has made this syndrome a more common and visible affliction.
With one in 10 Americans taking prescription antidepressants, medicines such as Zoloft, Prozac and Effexor are currently the most commonly prescribed class of drugs in the United States, just ahead of high-blood pressure medicine, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And SSRIs and SNRIs have become by far the most common types of antidepressant dispensed by pharmacies, driving a tripling of prescriptions since 1988.
Malignant neuroleptic syndrome is a rare but extremely dangerous condition that results in death in, by some estimates, 10% to 20% of cases. Until recently, it was so uncommon it was unlikely to be recognized in many emergency departments. But the widespread use of SSRIs and SNRI antidepressants had made this bizarre syndrome a more common affliction seen in emergency departments.