Dr. Amanda Burke:

Obviously I am not commenting on specific cases but it would not be standard practice to prescribe an anti-depressant on a first visit. However, everything has to be contextualised in terms of previous history, family history, genetics and so on. Fluoxetine, or Prozac, which is the trade name, is a licensed prescription. It is one of the few licensed prescriptions for depression and it has been proven to be effective but we would never look at that in isolation, without looking at the psychological and social aspects as well.