I am new to this forum and new to the concept of depression. I’m married with a 12yo daughter, a 10yo son, and an adult stepdaughter. My son has been diagnosed (sort of) with depression and is now taking Prozac. He regularly sees a child psychologist, and the Prozac was prescribed by a psychiatrist. I’m looking for some feedback on Prozac as well as childhood depression. I thought I’d find a forum for parents with depressed children, but I’ve not found one yet. Now I’m one of those guys who likes to have all the details on a situation, so I’d like to share my son’s history with you to give you a better idea where I’m coming from. My son was a very happy baby and toddler; easy to put to bed, generally in a good mood, etc. He is generally a good student, and has a sharp wit. We’ve had several comments over the years about his sense of humor. However he would occasionally get angry and stomp around, but these instances were somewhat rare. There was one instance in pre-school when my wife had to take him home because he was so angry, and one instance in kindergarten that the teacher was able to diffuse. The first period of extended “moodiness” was between 1st and 2nd grade. For the entire summer, he was just a real pain. My words at the time were he was a “bitter pill” all summer. Just being rude and cranky all the time, complaining of being bored, constantly getting punished, etc. Sometimes the slightest provocation would make him very angry. Not what an uninformed person (such as myself) individual would call depression. When school started in the fall, he “snapped out of it”. He had a great time playing baseball that fall, and we had no problems during the school year. The next episode was around Christmas time 2003, in third grade. He had some behavior problems before the holidays, that we just chalked up to pre-Christmas angst. However the situation deteriorated through January, fighting with other students and the teacher, rude, disruptive, etc. He seemed particularly angry with me. In early February 05, I made a conscious decision to shift tactics from anger and punishment to being overly affectionate and warm; still disciplining when necessary, but from a calm and controlled standpoint. He began to see the first psychologist in Feb 05, and she was very noncommittal. “It might be this, it could be that”. Never really clearly diagnosing anything specific. By about early March 05, he seemed to snap out of it again. I went on a field trip with him in April, and his teacher said to me “it’s nice to see him happy again”. Unfortunately my wife and I failed to continue visiting the psychologist (which I sorely regret), but he seemed great at that point. He had a great baseball season, and terrific summer. In September we started to see signs again. He was upset about school, and he had a few instances in class where something minor would “set him off” and he would refuse to do his work. This was the first time I felt that he suffered from depression, but that it manifested more as anger than being "depressed". We started making plans to see a new psychologist, but things kept getting in the way, and we couldn’t make it happen until January. However, although he had some problems from mid-September through the end of October, November and December seemed to go pretty smoothly. Strangely enough I thought his baseball playing was the best it’s ever been that fall. After the holidays, things deteriorated rapidly. January and February were very bad for the entire family – the worst ever. He was suspended from school, and had nearly constant problems with teachers and some of the students. He met with the psychologist weekly through the end of Feb. After about 5 weeks, the psychologist told us that he did not have a really good fix on the problem and recommended we also see a psychiatrist about medication. My son started taking Prozac (10mg) at the beginning of March. His attitude has improved dramatically since then. Essentially everything is back to normal. The question in my mind, is has the behavior improved because of the Prozac, or is this just the cycle he’s in? He improved last Spring without medication. One of my reasons for posting on this forum is to get some first hand information on the use of Prozac. Although most everything has been great since mid March, I wonder about the Prozac’s effect on my son’s baseball playing. He is playing, and playing well, but he doesn’t seem as focused as he did last Fall. He seems to have lost a bit of his edge, so to speak. Can Prozac “dull” that passion a person has for some activities? We’re considering taking him of the Prozac until school starts up in the fall. I would appreciate any thoughts or comments on this. I would also appreciate any info on other resources that may be helpful. Sorry for being so wordy, but I think it is important to understand the situation.