According to a new study in The Journal of American Psychiatry, the number of SSRI prescriptions for pediatric depression (ages 5 to 18) tumbled more than 50 percent between 2003 and 2005. In a troubling parallel development, the number of teen suicides jumped a record 18 percent between 2003 and 2004, the most recent year for which data exist. "All the data point in one direction: antidepressants save lives and untreated depression kills people," says Dr. Kelly Posner, a Columbia University child psychiatrist. The Food and Drug Administration may have scared parents and doctors away from SSRIs in 2003 when it issued a health-advisory warning of a potential link between the popular drugs and teen suicide.

Psychiatrists have long thought that treatment can put people at a temporary risk of suicide, but untreated depression is considered the far more lethal course. The FDA has already taken steps to modify the box in reaction to reports that its message was being misunderstood. "Our goal was to inform people of a risk, not halt treatment," says Dr. Thomas Laughren, head of psychiatry products, the division responsible for the warning. "But it's still only one year of data," he cautions. In May, his office mandated revisions "to reflect the apparent beneficial effect of antidepressants" and remind people that mood disorders are "the most important cause" of suicide.

We have numerous programs which address mental health issues, including medications. Psychotropic Medications (664), Mental Health Issues in the Acute Care Setting (201), Mood Disorders (663), and Anxiety Disorders (676) are all excellent programs for schools of nursing, psychology, and social work as well as for staff in hospitals, clinics, and inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities.

Hopes that a diet low in fat and chock-full of fruits and vegetables could prevent the return of breast cancer were dashed Tuesday by a large, seven-year experiment in more than 3,000 women. The government study found no benefit from a mega-veggies-and-fruit diet over the U.S. recommended servings of five fruits and vegetables a day—more than most Americans get. For now, the message for the 2.4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States is that they don't need to go overboard on veggies, researchers said.

Programs from our Oncology Library that discuss breast cancer include:

• Caring for the Patient with Breast Cancer (507)
• Basic Genetics for the Oncology Nurse (504)
• Chemotherapy Administration for the Oncology Nurse (512)
• Managing Physical Assessments and Supportive Cancer Care (505)
• Symptom Management for the Radiation Oncology Patient (513)
• Sepsis and DIC (510)
• Tumor Lysis Syndrome and Pleural Effusion (509)
• Cancer as a Diagnosis: Supporting the Care Givers (515)
• Traditional Pain Management in the Oncology Patient (517)
• Alternative Pain Management in the Oncology Patient (516)
• Guided Visualization (511)

Eleven prominent food and drink companies have agreed to limit U.S. advertising aimed at children under 12. The announcement came just before the start of hearings Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission into whether the growing child obesity problem could be curtailed by more responsible marketing practices. The food makers included: Campbell Soup Co., General Mills, PepsiCo, McDonald's, Cadbury Adams, the Coca-Cola Co., The Hershey Co., Unilever, Masterfoods, Kellogg Co., and Kraft Foods. The self-imposed rules included a pledge by seven of the companies to no longer use characters made popular by television and movies in their ads aimed at children, unless the ads promoted healthier products. The voluntary commitments also affect advertising in schools and online advertising aimed at youngsters. The rules should be fully implemented by the end of next year.

We have programs on Nutrition of the Infant (678) and Nutrition of the Young Child (675) that both discuss health eating habits. In addition, some of our programs from Injoy Childhood Nutrition: Preventing Obesity.

Concept Media produces and distributes award winning education media for colleges, healthcare institutions, social service agencies and counseling centers throughout North America, Europe, and the South Pacific. Most programs come in VHS, DVD and CD formats. Site Licenses and Distance Learning packages are also available for our library of programs.

Concept Media is best known in the area of professional nursing education and represented in more than 95% of the nation's nursing school media libraries. We have developed partnerships with leading nursing education institutions including Brigham Young University, Drexel University, and ICN/ Washington State University College of Nursing. Concept Media is well-respected and has received numerous awards for programs on diabetes, human development, mental health, substance abuse, counseling, and addiction.

For your convenience, Concept Media also offers additional resources in the form of Instructor's Guides which are available online. And, in keeping with our mission to focus on the needs of educators in the healthcare field, we invite you to call with any suggestions, questions, program requests, or ways in which we can better serve you.

We would like to hear from you. Please email us on any topics you would like to see covered in Hot Topics.

hottopics@conceptmedia.com. Or call us at (800) 233-7078.