'People Have a Right to Know'

While only a small percentage might wind up with a significant adverse response, both the FDA and psychiatrists agree that all patients should be monitored closely as soon as they begin taking the antidepressants. "There has been this mistake of saying, 'Oh, it takes three to four weeks for it to work, so give the patients the pills and have them come back three to four weeks later,' which is really dangerous," says Teicher.

Researchers now consider the first two weeks the riskiest time period for patients who experience adverse side effects. The Woodwards say their daughter, Julie, began acting strangely almost immediately after she started taking Zoloft--unexpectedly pushing her mother one afternoon, gnawing nervously on a napkin at the kitchen table and pacing the floors. But when her parents called the clinic that dispensed the drug, they were told not to worry because it would take a little while for Julie to adjust. Seven days after she started taking Zoloft, Julie hung herself. "We were lulled into a false sense of security. It was devastating. She had no history of self-harm or suicide. The police went through her journals and found no reference to suicide," says Woodward, who still lives in North Wales, Pa., with his wife and three other children. "I don't want what happened to our daughter to happen to anyone else."

That may be wishful thinking. But alerting both adults and children to the warning signs can only be a step in the right direction.

© 2004