Seroxat - Sara Carlin was not alone - 50 teen suicides Ontario each year

well they wern't all on Paxil/Seroxat otherwise we would never hear the end of it....so what causes this, booze, long cold dark winters ? ....read on


http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/criticalpsychiatry/message/62929



source

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/07/11/14679041.html



OAKVILLE — Joanne Genovy's youngest child was just 15 the first time she tried to end her life.

It's a memory etched in her mind — receiving a call from a friend's mom alerting her Cassandra had "swallowed a bunch of pills," racing home frantically, not knowing if her daughter would be alive or dead when she got there.

That was 14 months ago and fortunately her daughter survived.

But Joanne has lived in fear every day since, wondering when her daughter will try to end her life again.

"We never thought she was capable of something like that," Joanne told The Sun recently.

Teen suicides have doubled in Canada since 1961 and rates here remain among the highest in industrialized nations. In Ontario, more than 50 teens commit suicide annually.

There are various and conflicting explanations — including our long winters — but universal agreement among experts that there is a woefully inadequate lack of funding, treatment facilities and trained child psychiatrists in Canada.

For desperate parents, the harsh reality is there are few places to turn to for help.

While Joanne admits there was some dysfunction in her home in the past, not unlike most families, she has tried to give her youngest of four girls all the attention and love she can muster hoping to help her overcome depression and a severe eating disorder.

She's even been off work for the last year trying to care for Cassandra, a decision that's caused major financial strain for her family.

But despite her efforts, her now 17-year-old daughter's mental health has only worsened. In fact, she has now attempted suicide, or come dangerously close, five times in just over a year — three times in the last few months.

"Each time it gets scarier," Joanne said. "I'm terrified that the next time she goes to the hospital will be in a body bag."

In spite of multiple stays in the psychiatric ward at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, where Cassandra was last checked in on June 11, finding the right help to save her child's life has been next to impossible.

Joanne pointed out that getting immediate help for someone who is suicidal is easy enough, you can simply call 911 or visit the emergency department at any hospital.

But a hospital stay is only a temporary fix, something she has learned the hard way.

Cassandra's most recent admission to Oakville-Trafalgar lasted two weeks, but only because her mom pleaded repeatedly with staff not to release her.

As is often the case, drugs and alcohol are part of Cassandra's problem, exacerbated by an eating disorder.

Joanne has looked into an assortment of aftercare programs, for both inpatients and outpatients. But they are few and far between and it can take six months to a year, or even longer, to get into such programs.

Her biggest fear is that her bulimic daughter will end up like Sara Carlin, another 17-year-old Oakville girl, who hung herself in her parents' basement in 2007. Carlin's death was recently at the centre of an inquiry into the use of Paxil, a prescription drug used to treat depression and anxiety.

After her initial suicide attempt, Cassandra was prescribed anti-depressants and began attending an eating disorder program in Halton Region. But Joanne claims she was dubbed "too risky" and was "kicked out."

Upset she was no longer allowed to attend the group counselling sessions, Cassandra stopped taking her medication.

A few days later she tried to kill herself for the second time.

The troubled teen was then admitted into a program at North York General Hospital. Her mom drove her into Toronto every day and she was "doing good" for a while.

But Cassandra managed to convince her counsellors and doctors that she was "fine" and they sent her on her way, the girl's mom claims.

"We told everybody she wasn't ready, but nobody would listen," Joanne said, adding her daughter soon fell back into her old habits.

Twice this year, in May following a break-up with a boyfriend, and on her 17th Birthday, the troubled teen again tried to kill herself.

Cassandra's illness has been tearing her family apart.

"My daughter wants help. And I can't be with her every minute of every day," said Joanne, who is now faced with either returning to work and leaving her daughter completely unattended or selling her home.

She believes her daughter needs to be admitted as an inpatient to a program with round-the-clock care. But that's easier said than done.

So far, Joanne claims she's been told her daughter is too old, too young, too sick or not sick enough, among other things.

"It shouldn't be so hard," said Joanne. She is currently trying desperately to get her daughter into Homewood, a private facility in Guelph.

Homewood has only one OHIP-covered bed and the wait for that spot is more than a year.

"All I want to do is save my child and I'll do whatever it takes to keep her alive and get her well, even if that means she ends up hating me."