Doctors demand end to lockdown as kids as young as 12 on antidepressants
Children as young as 12 are being prescribed antidepressants to deal with the stress of Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown, with some reporting they were scared to return to the classroom or socialise.
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Children as young as 12 are being prescribed antidepressants to cope with Melbourne’s COVID-19 lockdown, as doctors plead with Victoria’s Health Minister to lift restrictions now.
Two Melbourne doctors, who are worried about the mental-health effects of the city’s extended lockdown on their patients, said they were disappointed by the outcome of a meeting this week with new Health Minister Martin Foley.
They said the voices of medicos at the coalface of the coronavirus pandemic were being ignored by the state government.
On Tuesday, the COVID Medical Network issued a plea on behalf of more than 500 doctors, nurses and medical professionals for Premier Daniel Andrews to immediately end the lockdown.
Camberwell GP Stacey Harris and surgeon Geoff Wells said they met with Mr Foley on Wednesday to express their fears and request a meeting between doctors and the state government’s chief medical officer, Brett Sutton, as well as other pandemic policy makers.
It had been hoped a group of six doctors representing a range of specialties and including psychiatrists, could provide their insights, they said.
But Dr Harris and Mr Wells said they left feeling despondent, when their suggestion was rejected.
Mr Foley instead suggested the government consult with representatives from the College of Surgeons and the Australian Medical Association, they said.
“Because of all the bureaucracy involved with those bodies, that will take forever to organise — probably never happen,” Mr Wells said.
Dr Harris said while Mr Foley had been receptive to the meeting, it appeared their pleas to speak directly to policy makers “to tell them what’s really happening on the ground with the lockdown”, had fallen on deaf ears.
“We are seeking a second opinion … on the modelling being used, to understand what they’re basing this lockdown and all the rules on,” she said.
“Andrews keeps talking about ‘the science’, but we’re yet to see it.”
Dr Harris said she was at breaking point after treating patient after patient — many of them young — who have mental illness.
Two of her teenage patients had committed suicide this year and scores were presenting with depression, eating disorders and self-harming, she said.
Of the 38 patients she saw last Tuesday, Dr Harris said 20 had mental health problems and five were prescribed antidepressants or required a higher dose.
Many patients being put on antidepressants were children, she said.
“Every day I’m dealing with these kids that I’ve known since they were little. and I’m now seeing them just deflated,” she said. “I’m more and more at a loss as to know how to help them.
“I’m seeing a lot of clinical depression and anxiety, and they need antidepressants because they’re in a black hole.
“ I’m prescribing them more and more … from as young as 12.”
She said she “absolutely” believed the lockdown had led, or contributed to, their worsening mental health.
Even with the return to school for most students, their mental health would not necessarily rebound, she said.
In fact, some children were telling her they were now scared to return to the classroom and socialise, while others said they were missing community sport more than school.
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