casingda replied: "Excellent question! (I am an adult who takes Prozac, and, let me tell you, it has made all the difference, because I have organic depression--the kind you have for life.) Now, to get to the issue of children and meds. First of all, I think children are diagnosed at a far higher level with ADD, ADHD, etc than is realistic. My daughter, for example, who is homeschooled, would probably be diagnosed as such if she were in regular school, but I know she is just a very active person. She has no trouble concentrating, learning, reading, watching TV, etc, but by several of the standards other children have been diagnosed with, she would probably be diagnosed as having a "problem". I grew up with a brother who was diagnosed as "hyperactive", which is what is was called way back when, and, believe me, he really was. He was given Ritalin, and, if he hadn't been, he would not have been able to function at anywhere near a "calm" level. And Ritalin is not without its long-term side-effects, so there is a trade-off, but it was all that was available back then. I can tell the difference between an active child who has not been properly disciplined, a child who is bored and just needs more to do to stimulate his active, intelligent mind, and one who is truly hyperactive. For those children, it is important that they be properly diagnosed and treated, monitored carefully when it comes to the medications they are receiving, and it is also important that they not be lumped into a group or stigmatized (this happened to my brother). Perhaps, too, better alternatives can be found, as in meds that deal with the root cause of the hyperactivity, rather than suppressing it. However, if you are asking if I think these meds are being used and abused and overprescribed, my answer is a definitive yes. This is all observational on my part, and is not based on any objective scientific data that I am aware of, but I feel it is how society is dealing with (at times) the lack of parental involvement in children's lives and how it is also dealing with teacher's decreasing ability to administer discipline in the classroom, as well as an increase in overall classroom size. As to the issue of antidepressants being prescribed to kids (14 and under). Now that is a loaded question. I had severe OCD as a kid, the worst being when I was in Jr High School. I have suffered from depression, to varying degrees, for years, too. Since these are both organic in nature, and it is know that certain events can make both worse, I wonder if I had been properly diagnosed if some sort of med(s) might have helped me? Probably not, considering what was available in the past, although I'll never know, or even if they would have considered such a thing. So I guess my answer is this. In younger children, because their brains are still developing, this is not something I would consider to be such a great idea, even in adolescents. The problem is, however, that there are kids out there, like I was, who need help. And the long-term effects on developing brains (since these drugs are, on the whole, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are impossible to predict. Perhaps research is needed that will specifically target treating young children and adolescents who have true psychological difficulties that would benefit from properly prescribed and closely monitored meds that are tailored to them, rather than using adult meds."