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Australian health authorities are looking into issuing new strong warnings for SSRI antidepressant drugs, which includes popular drugs Zoloft and Prozac. British regulators have already increased warnings about stopping the drugs suddenly.
Doctors are being urged not to prescribe the antidepressants as a first line treatment for mild depression. The use of SSRI drugs in recent years, like Prozac and Zoloft, have greatly increased in Australia, the UK, the U.S. and other countries, and Australian health regulators are concerned whether the warnings are strong enough and if the drugs are being over-prescribed. In Australia, the use of SSRIs increased more than 350 percent between 1990 and 2002.
A spokesman for the Therapeutic Goods Administration says Australian doctors have been given guidelines warning about the dangers of abruptly stopping antidepressants. The agency also warned most antidepressants are not suitable for children.