Ms Ann Murphy:

With regard to access and children, a specific case comes to mind. It involved a young woman, 19 years old, who has been on antidepressant medication for five years, from the age of 14. As Dr. Barry noted, all intervention in terms of what we do or take affects the brain, particularly the brain of a developing child or young girl. This girl was not clinically depressed. She may have required a small input of antidepressants initially, or not, but she had not been offered or received any type of therapy. At the age of 19 she is now in therapy, which is being paid for by her family, having been medicated for five years. This is not unusual. Rather, it is extremely usual.