The Age of Ritalin: Next Up: Prozac

When you're 10 years old, you shouldn't have much to be depressed about--or so an adult might think. But just as more and more children are taking Ritalin to calm their hyperactivity storms, a growing number of kids are turning to Prozac and other antidepressants to treat their blues.

Childhood depression is a disturbingly common phenomenon. About 3.4 million Americans under 18 are said to be "seriously" depressed. That's a lot of gloom in a group so young--and a lot of potential consumers for Prozac and its neurochemical cousins Zoloft and Paxil. In North America, up to 800,000 antidepressant prescriptions were...

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