15/16 year olds DS and anti-depressants?

[Sunshineandflipflops]

Hi - just wanting to see if anyone has any experiences of 15/16 year olds taking anti-depressants please?

My DS is very nearly 16 (in a couple of weeks) and has been struggling with his mental health for a year or so, maybe more.

He has experienced bullying at school which has contributed to this but generally is 'different' to many of his peers so he stands out. When I say different, I mean that he is not into any sports, especially not football, he isn't into hanging around in groups and is quite content at home gaming. He is quite young for his age in many ways but is 6ft tall.

He does have a few friends at school but I think they are all 'different' and have been drawn together for that reason. There always seems to be fall outs and dramas.

We have recently got him private counselling every couple of weeks to try and help him as he is down quite a lot and actually self-harmed at school as a cry for help last year.

He has very low self esteem and today I have found out that he has been posting worrying comments on social media (his older brother alerted me)about needing to lose weight, hating himself, etc. This has followed a fall out with his best friend (female) yesterday at school.

Me and his dad are divorced but co-parent well so he is going to come over after school today so that we can talk to him together about it all.

My question is whether suggesting we go to the gp and ask about anti-depressants is a good idea or not? Ideally I don't want my 16 year old taking anti-depressants but I also know there is no shame in it and I winder if they might just help take the edge of his negative feelings, along with the counselling.

I also think he needs to be more active as I am a great believer of activity for mental health but he just has no interest.

Does anyone have any experience of their teens taking anti-depressants please? Good or bad...I don't know anyone in real life in a similar situation.

I think they have to refer to CAHMS. I know our friends dd ran out of her antidepressant’s because her psychiatrist had left and a new one hadn’t yet reviewed her notes, the GP wouldn’t give a prescription, even though she had already been an inpatient after attempting suicide once already.

I asked a GP friend and he said he also wouldn’t be in a position to prescribe to a minor due to the guidelines.

https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/depression-in-children/management/moderate-to-severe-depression/#:~:text=Antidepressants%20should%20only%20be%20prescribed,a%20child%20and%20adolescent%20psychiatrist.
Antidepressants should only be prescribed to children (5–11 years) and young people (12–18 years) with moderate to severe depression following an assessment and diagnosis by a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/
Young minds give advice to parents and young people, maybe they can help you help your DS?

GP won't prescribe antids to teenagers.

They would have to be prescribed via psychistrist at CAMHS and in all honestly your DS could likely have aged out of that service before being seen (in this area anyway).

Sorry your family is going through this <hugs>

We saw a private consultant psychiatrist during covid who prescribed fluoxetine to DD who was then 16. They made all the difference, but she was completely lost, out of education, nothing like her normal self.

My dd took fluoxetine, but it made her really tired.

Again we had to go to a private pysch.

Sorry, I've no advice on the Rx side of things but how about trying something like Martial Arts as a hobby for him?

I understand the biggest hurdle would be getting him through the door but if he enjoys it it could do wonders for his mental health.

Teen DD on week 2 of fluxotein prescribed by CMHS psychiatrist after overdose..she has been low mood for a while and it morphed into depression which we didn't see to be honest.
She is settling on it and I can see it helping her...but as @ArseInTheCoOpWindow says my DD is also super tired and if possible would go to bed at 8.00.pm

In your case, I would push the GP to refer to camhs urgently.
Also seek a private psychiatrist if upu can

Thanks for your responses everyone.

We went to the gp a few weeks ago as DS wanted to ask about ADHD. We were basically told that the wait for CAMHS was so long thats it's a waste of time. I know that was for slightly different reasons but the referral would still take the same process.

We went private for counselling for this reason so maybe thats what we would need to do to look into AD's. I'm really hoping to avoid this route for reasons mentioned by other posters. He is in his GCSE year so the tiredness wouldn't be great but then it would be better than other, potentially worse symptoms :(

Sorry to everyone else going through similar issues - this is by far the toughest stage of parenting yet. I would swap for sleepless nights with a baby any day.

Me and his dad did talk to him together last night after the worrying social media content and they are going to join a gym together to try and boost his self esteem a bit.

Hi,

I was also of the same mindset for years (now 5yrs of mental health struggles) that I did not want my daughter to try anti depressants as believe in environmental and holistic support however she is now 17 and for the first time medication is supporting to some extent. She has tried various over the years and it is not one size fits all.

She tried Sertraline which did not work well with her at all, currently on Quetiapine and Fluoxetine which seems to be supporting although its still a long journey ahead.

Having the Camhs Psychiatrist appointment is the best way forward, you will need to push for this as they will try to do therapy first (Waiting lists are wild but worth the wait). You are right to have private in the meantime however this could get costly, the variety of therapy options (DBT,CBT,counselling etc) finding the right one for your son is integral. Wish you all the best :)

3 years back, initial private psychiatrist appt was around £350 with follow ups being £250, so not cheap, but for us well worth it. We didn't know where to start looking so went with The Priory.

Some GPs will prescribe fluoxetine for teens as long as they’ve tried talking therapy first. I’ve known teens take this and feel it helps. However alongside counselling, “behavioural activation” ie doing stuff is recommended treatment for low mood. So good idea re gym

NICE guidelines are that GPs can't prescribe to under 18s. I visited the GP this week with DD3, who is unable to attend school due to (undiagnosed) OCD and anxiety. CAMHS won't even put her on the waiting list despite telling me to read books on OCD.

The GP said she needs SSRIs but he can't prescribe. The only thing I could do is go private but I just don't have it. I could do the initial appointment but they would want follow ups that push it out of bounds.

The system is broken.

There is lots of evidence coming out about teen mental health. One of my DC is part of a long national study (has been for about 10 years). We get given the outcomes of the previous years findings a really common link between poor mental health and teens is screen time.
We cut the teens gaming time in half (down to about 3 hours at weekend) an hour on a school night Nd 2 days with none.
We also make sure we eat together at least 3 times a week (hard as they do activities at different time). Go out for a walk once a week - we are lucky as I lay an hour in any direction and we have the peaks/moors/lakes (they all moan until we are out then like it) sometimes it's just the boring park.
With the social awkward eldest we gently helped him make arrangements with friends until he got better at it. Trips to cinema etc. he joined a gym and now meets friends there (it is a thing apparently these days as a replacement to getting pissed in the park 😁).
Diet can play a really important role in mood. Trying to stabilise blood sugar (lots of protein and slow burning carbs, good for weight loss too but don't mention that to him).
ADs have their place but don't really work unless other things are also set in.

@smilesup
True about exercise, screen time,diet everything affecting mood...
When the child is in the throes of depression very hard to even get them out of bed...everything is a No!
From my experience, they should want to engage and it's so hard for them to see beyond how miserable everything is...they just give up.