I haven't checked in with E.C. for quite a while, but it often is in my thoughts. At a certain time in my life when I was first coming to terms with my gay side the people here were a huge help to me. Even though I may seem to you as an old guy, when I first admitted that I really liked having sex with guys, I went back to being a youth. Associating and hearing other young people talk about their fears helped me to accept myself. Here's an article that talks about teen suicide and the huge percentage of gay youth that try it and think about it. There's warning signs. Lots of info. Now hopefully I can get the link to work. Or maybe some one can help. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...s-your-teen-may-be-contemplating-suicide.aspx
I think that some of this is probably true, especially warnings about peer conflicts and self-harming behaviors, etc. But I am skeptical of a few things in this article here. The article does seem to have some legitimate sources, which I went to and skimmed, but I don't like that they say that no one should ever take antidepressants. *I* am on antidepressants and mood stabilizers for my bipolar disorder. Lots of teens go untreated for it or get misdiagnosed, and I read somewhere (NAMI, I think) that 50% of people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide. I am part of the 50% who have not AND I'm gay. Am I okay right now due to the medication and therapy I've undergone for the last five years? The answer is yes. Will that work for every case of depression? No, I don't think so. Is it okay to tell parents to never allow their children to be medicated for psychiatric disorders that won't respond to just therapy? Absolutely fucking not. Also, I should note that I don't believe in medicating immediately or medicating without therapy to go along with it, but I think that denying that antidepressants might be necessary in some cases is stupid and will cause problems.
Yes , Dreamwatch, I agree that Dr.Mercola is very, anti-antidepressants . He believes that exercise and a proper diet will straighten out depression. I think meds have their place and are tremendously helpful to balance out life. There is a chemical imbalance in some people that can be corrected.
yeahhh i agree. yes its proven that lgbt youth commit suicide way more, but this was more opinionated than informational
That all being said, you're right, too many LGBT youth commit or attempt suicide. That's why I am so supportive of LGBT youth groups and clubs and also places like EC, or the It Gets Better Campaign. I think the internet can be such a great tool here, we can reach these troubled kids right in their own homes. They can be helped without being outed and with their anonymity comes the ability to open up and find out that life can be different than what it is at this moment.
The article is a good discussion of some issues that don't get discussed very often. The statements about antidepressants is on the extreme although he is asking the right questions. When these drugs were approved, they were tested in adults. We know that the developing brain is very different than the adult brain, yet these drugs have been increasingly prescribed as the first line treatment for depression without any studies to indicate whether they are effective in teenagers.
