Latest news with #Streeter
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK high street in the spotlight as key data and results cap off earnings season
The UK retail sector is in focus this week, with high street favourites due to report, while economic data should also shed some light on consumer activity. There have been some brighter spots in UK economic data over the past month, with Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released last week showing stronger-than-expected UK economic growth of 0.7% in the first quarter, versus estimates of 0.6%. This was also a marked improvement on the 0.1% growth recorded in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, separate data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), also released last week, showed UK total retail sales rose by 7% year-on-year in April, well ahead of the 12-month average growth of 1.4%. The UK retail trade association said the sunniest April on record prompted strong consumer spending, while Easter falling in April this year also helped boost retail sales. "The sun has been shining on the high street in recent months, as the warmer weather has prompted shoppers to spend money entertaining and refresh summer wardrobes," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. "The British Retail Consortium also noted a trend for DIY and garden focused sales, as people spruced up their outdoor spaces." Read more: Five 'buy' rated European travel stocks She said that the Bank of England's recent 0.25% interest rate cut – which lowered the base rate to 4.25% – was "also likely to have helped sentiment among consumers, and with borrowing costs on a downwards, if slow, trajectory, it could help push sales in the right direction in the months to come." "The trade deals signed with the US, India and the EU may also help restore some confidence about the direction of the UK economy, which could increase consumers' appetite to spend," Streeter added. At the same time, she said: "Higher revenues won't translate automatically into better profits for the retail sector. Rising employer taxes, due to increases in national insurance contributions, are likely to weigh on the bottom line." These are all important factors to consider as more high street names report this week, helping round off this latest earnings season, along with the latest UK inflation print due out on Wednesday and ONS retail sales data on Friday. With that in mind, here's more on what to expect. Before diving into this week's retail earnings, it's worth taking stock of performance from the sector so far this season, as a number of major UK retailers have already reported. This includes supermarkets Tesco (TSCO.L) and Sainsbury's (SBRY.L), which both reported in April. Hargreaves Lansdown's Streeter said that Tesco "issued some weak profit guidance for the current year that disappointed the market but given its huge scale and deep-rooted relationships with suppliers, [it is] still in a highly competitive position." Meanwhile, Sainsbury's has been "punching above its weight in the supermarket sector," she said, delivering a good set of full-year results, with revenues growing nearly 2% to £32.8bn and profit after tax up 76.6% to £242m. "Sainsbury continues to scoop up market share, in large part due to a herculean effort to improve products, value perception and innovation more generally," Streeter said. "This should stand it in good stead if price wars do break out, as has been expected, among grocers." Read more: Eurozone inflation to drop below 2% on US tariffs Elsewhere, Primark-owner Associated British Foods (ABF.L), reported half-year results at the end of April. Streeter said that 1% sales growth to £4.5bn "didn't impress investors ... with a weak performance on home soil only offset with expansion overseas." "But there are some sector wide signs that fortunes may have improved as the seasons evolved," she added. Next (NXT.L) posted a better-than-expected first quarter, in results published earlier in May, with full-prices sales up 11.4%, which was £55m ahead of its forecast for the period. "Warm, dry weather also gave clothing a lift, something noted by Next in its latest trading update, although its boss, Lord Simon Wolfson, suggested the sunshine may have pulled forward some demand from later in the year," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell (AJB.L). Even so, Next raised its guidance for profit before tax for the year by £14m to £1.08bn. Turning to this week's retail releases, Greggs (GRG.L) is due to report on Tuesday morning. While the bakery chain said sales had topped £2bn for the first time and posted record profits in its preliminary annual results in March, the company also reported a further slowdown in sales at the start of the year. "Chief executive Roisin Currie had cited rotten weather in January and February as part of the problem, but that will not stand up this time and Greggs' take on wider high street footfall should be informative," said Mould. "Take-up of the delivery proposition and volumes in the evening will be of particular interest, as will pricing strategies designed to cover wage and input cost inflation in what remains a highly competitive arena, and one where new initiatives such as chicken goujons bring Greggs into areas that are already well served." Much of the market focus this week will be on high street stalwart Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), as it reports in the wake of a cyber attack that left the retailer with some empty shelves in its stores and online orders suspended. Shares in M&S are down 12% over the past month and investors will be keeping a close eye out for any commentary from leadership on how the company is dealing with the fallout of the cyber attack. "M&S looked on track to maintain its hard-won momentum in both food and clothing until the cyber-attack struck," said Mould. "Insurance cover will lessen the immediate financial blow, and management's careful, considered handling of the situation means reputational damage is very limited at the stage. Whether boss Stuart Machin feels able to give much guidance is open to question." M&S is due to report on Wednesday, with analysts forecast a 5% increase in total group sales to £1.38bn, according to AJ Bell. Adjusted pre-tax income is expected to come in at £850m, versus £716m a year ago. Sports apparel retailer JD Sports (JD.L) is also due to report full-year results and offer an update on first quarter performance on Wednesday. The retailer, which sells brands such as Nike (NKE) and Adidas ( gave investors a glimpse into what to expect in a trading update in early April. The company said it had generated 5.8% organic revenue growth for the year, while profit before tax and adjusting items was expected to be in line with guidance of £915m to £935m. JD Sports also indicated that the 2026 fiscal year had gotten off to a solid start, as it said trading to the end of March had been in line with expectations. The company said it expected profit before tax and adjusting items to be in line with consensus estimates, but warned its guidance excluded the potential impact from changes to US president Donald Trump's tariffs. Mould said that JD Sports' share price "still feels linked, for better or worse, to that of Nike and the latest dud outlook statement there, plus one from athleisure provider Lululemon (LULU) leaves questions unanswered about the wider market here. "Consensus estimates have leaked lower, to below £900m on an adjusted pre-tax profit basis for the year to January 2026, even though JD Sports had declared itself happy with the prevailing analysts' view of something around £920m to £940m, or flattish against the fiscal 2025 outturn that will be revealed by these full-year results." On the economic data front, the ONS is slated to release the latest UK consumer price index (CPI) reading – a key measure of inflation – on Wednesday morning. CPI rose by 2.6% in the year to March, which was down from 2.8% in February. The gradual easing of inflation back towards central banks' 2% target has helped cement the Bank of England's (BoE) case for lowering interest rates. However, Deutsche Bank ( senior economist Sanjay Raja said in a note on Friday that despite an "encouraging March report, the April inflation will present the biggest test for the MPC [monetary policy committee] so far this year." He pointed to increases in energy and water bills, as well as to vehicle excise duty, social housing costs, council tax bills (for RPI), air passenger duty, communication bill resets and even a later than usual Easter weekend, as adding to price momentum. However, Raja said that "perhaps the biggest test for the MPC will be how the double whammy" of increases to the national living wage and employer national insurance contributions – announced in the government's autumn budget and took effect in early April – impact price momentum." Read more: Have you ever used financial advice for investing? Vote in our poll "We think food, core goods and some services (particularly, hospitality and leisure) prices will be most impacted," he said. As a result, Deutsche Bank expected a "big step up" in price momentum to start the second quarter, estimating that headline CPI would rise to 3.4% in April. Another key data release from the ONS this week is its April retail sales data, which is due out on Friday morning. March figures, published last month, showed retail sales were estimated to have risen by 0.4%, which was down slightly from 0.7% growth in February. The ONS said clothing and outdoor retailers reported that good weather boosted sales but that this was partly offset by falls in supermarket sales. In a note released on Thursday, Barclays' (BARC.L) investment sciences team said that their data indicated UK consumer spending was up 1.5% year-on-year over the four weeks to 2 May. Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio However, they said that the team's machine learning model forecast spending growth to rise by 3.9% year-on-year over the next four weeks. "Across sectors, we forecast digital content, other retail, travel, and leisure to stand out strongest, while motoring (excluding-fuel), hardware & DIY, and home & electronics are forecast to decrease," the Barclays team said. Turning back to the previous month, AJ Bell's Mould said that many consumers may have approached April with "some trepidation, given higher council tax bills, higher water bills and the increased energy price cap. That explains why the GfK consumer confidence reading has largely stalled of late." 'But there is still some good news out there," he added. "The price of oil is weak and that could filter through to the energy price gap come July, while interest rates are slowly coming down and the stronger pound will help put some form of lid on imported inflation. "Increased price competition between the leading supermarkets will be welcome too, while wage growth continues to outstrip inflation quite handily and unemployment remains relatively low." Read more: UK economy grows 0.7% in first quarter of the year Savers making costly 'bad decisions' around pensions as 15 million risk retirement poverty How to tell if you're richSign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
Suspect in RICO theft, forgery released to home detention, GPS monitoring
A 62-year-old former Rock Island County employee who faces felony charges has been released on pretrial conditions, according to Rock Island County Court records. Rock Island County Court documents show Leisa Streeter faces charges of theft/control intent over $500,000-$1 million, theft of more than $100,000 school/worship, forgery/issue/deliver document, conduct transaction over $500,000, and three charges of official misconduct/forbidden act. Theft/more than $100,000/school/worship is a Class X felony, according to Rock island County Court records. A Class X felony is the most serious type of felony in Illinois. Upon conviction, it carries a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years, with potential for extended sentences under certain aggravating circumstances. Streeter, who was transported from Mercer County Jail to Rock Island County Jail, appeared in court Friday, when she was advised of her charges, rights and penalties, Rock Island County Court records show. Additionally, she was appointed a public defender and released with pre-trial conditions, home detention and GPS (that stands for Global Positioning System, a satellite-based radio-navigation system that can determine a user's location.) The state filed a petition to deny pretrial release, but the petition was denied, court documents show. Streeter is scheduled for a preliminary hearing May 27 in Rock Island County Court. A longtime employee, an investigation Streeter was a longtime Rock Island County employee, according to a joint news release from Rock Island County State's Attorney Dora Villarreal and Rock Island County Sheriff Darren Hart. The Rock Island County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division, along with assistance from the Illinois State Police Special Investigations Unit, executed a criminal search warrant at a New Windsor residence, As a result, Streeter was arrested on charges of theft, theft of government property, forgery, money laundering and three counts of official misconduct, the release shows. Streeter first was transported to the Mercer County Jail and then to Rock Island County Jail. 'Financial irregularities' and an investigation In September of 2024, the Rock Island County Probation Department and Treasurer's Department discovered 'financial irregularities' after Streeter retired. Their concerns were brought to the attention of the Rock Island County States Attorney's Office, who then contacted the sheriff's office to investigate the matter further. 'Given the complexity of the case, the sheriff's office requested additional assistance from the Illinois State Police Special Investigations Unit, who specialize in financial and public corruption cases, along with an outside forensic auditing firm,' the release shows. The release shows that Streeter was a 34-year employee of Rock Island County when she retired in June of 2024. From 2003 to 2024, Streeter worked as the administrative assistant to the director of court services for Rock Island County Probation. According to the release, evidence shows, in 2003, Streeter – without authorization – forged documents and opened a fraudulent bank account for her sole personal use under the name 'Rock Island County VIP.' Streeter then funneled fraudulent payments through this account she controlled on the appearance of official services rendered under the Rock Island County Victim's Impact Program. A forensic audit showed from the time this account was opened through June of 2024, Streeter is alleged to have made in excess of $900,000 in financial withdrawals. Streeter used these funds to pay for personal expenses, to include credit card bills, cash withdrawals, loan payments, food, entertainment, merchandise, travel, transportation, and other miscellaneous expenses, according to the news release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Yahoo
Prosecutors: St. Clair Shores man accused of killing mom with broken broomstick handle
A St. Clair Shores man killed his mother by beating her with a broken broomstick handle, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. Armando Jourdain Streeter, 46, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder and assault with intent to murder, both of which carry a life sentence upon conviction, a prosecutor's office news release said. It indicates Streeter is accused of killing his 76-year-old mother, with whom he lived, on Saturday. He was being held in the Macomb County Jail without bond after arraignment in 40th District Court in St. Clair Shores. No attorney was listed for Streeter in online court records, which indicate he was represented by appointed counsel and that there was a request for appointed counsel following arraignment. Court records also indicate Streeter was referred for a competency evaluation. A probable cause conference is scheduled for April 15. In his office's release, County Prosecutor Peter Lucido called the allegations "extremely serious and deeply concerning. This terrible act of violence cannot be tolerated, and we will fully pursue justice to the full extent of the law." According to an online story by the Macomb Daily, a detective sergeant told the judge that dispatchers received a call from Streeter's brother saying he found his mother dead in the bedroom "with the end of a broomstick impaled in one of her eyes." A man matching Streeter's full name, age and year of birth was discharged from state prison in January 2024 after serving time on charges of assault with intent to murder and a felony firearms offense from a case in Wayne County in 2001. He was sentenced in 2002 after a jury conviction, according to Michigan Department of Corrections online records. Contact Christina Hall: chall@ Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Free Press. Submit a letter to the editor at This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: St. Clair Shores man accused of killing mom with broken broomstick
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Yahoo
Florida man accused of killing girlfriend, staging murder scene while their children slept: police
A Florida man was arrested in the murder of his girlfriend, who deputies say he allegedly shot and killed while their three children were in bed with her, then staged the crime as a home invasion. The Orange County Sheriff's Office released a video showing the arrest of 32-year-old Saun Rainge Jr., who was charged in the January 2024 murder of his girlfriend, 30-year-old Porshe Nikita Shanee Streeter. Another man, 26-year-old Benjamin Garmon, was also previously arrested as an accomplice to the murder and is being held in the Seminole County Jail, according to arrest reports. Officials said Streeter was shot multiple times while she slept in bed with her three children Jan. 23, 2024. Deputies said none of the children, ages 10, 2 and 1, were injured in the shooting. North Carolina Woman Allegedly Murdered Green Beret Husband, Concealed His Death: Officials "Thankfully, none of the children were physically harmed," the sheriff's office shared in a post on X. Read On The Fox News App Deputies said they responded to a shooting at Streeter's apartment, where she lived with her three children and where Rainge would occasionally stay, FOX 35 reported. When they arrived at the apartment, officials said they found Streeter and Rainge with gunshot wounds, FOX 35 reported. Hawaiian Doctor's Wife Describes Moment She Realized Husband Was Allegedly Trying To Kill Her Officials said Streeter was pronounced dead at the home, and Rainge was transported to a hospital for a gunshot wound to his arm. Rainge told investigators he stopped by the apartment to check on his family, but claimed a person walked in and shot them. Streeter was shot 10 times, according to an arrest affidavit. Rainge allegedly left her lifeless body for hours while he enlisted Garmon's help to make his story stand. California Woman Strangled To Death While On Overnight Prison Visit With Quadruple Murder Convict Husband Officials said the two arranged for Garmon to shoot Rainge in the arm to stage the murder as a home invasion before calling 911 for help. "Rainge, the father of those children, enlisted Garmon to shoot and kill Porshe and claimed it was a home invasion," officials said. "Rainge's story didn't right true for our homicide detectives, who have worked tirelessly on this case for more than a year to secure justice for Porshe." An arrest affidavit obtained by FOX 35 revealed the couple's "toxic" relationship, referencing reports of domestic abuse and infidelity. Testimony from friends, as well as photographic evidence, also confirmed reports of issues in the relationship. Authorities told FOX 35 they believe Rainge shot Streeter because she would not give him full custody of the children and was hiding money from article source: Florida man accused of killing girlfriend, staging murder scene while their children slept: police
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Trump, RFK Jr. worried about ‘threat' of antidepressants. These Kentuckians push back.
From left: Tom Streeter, Lindsay Fouts, Matt Milligan. (Photos provided) This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Tom Streeter clearly remembers the day he nearly died from depression, left untreated for years. In the mid-1990s, Streeter was in North Carolina working on his dissertation when his mental health tanked. 'One day, I found myself sitting in my office, wondering how to kill myself,' said Streeter, now 61. 'It occurred to me that maybe I ought to talk to somebody, because if I actually came up with a way that was acceptable, I was going to really be in trouble.' Streeter, who's now lived in Boone County more than 20 years, called a friend who referred him to a psychiatrist. Quickly, he got set up with talk therapy and was prescribed Zoloft, an antidepressant that had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a few years prior. He's been on Zoloft ever since and credits it with saving his life. 'It's been 30 years,' Streeter told the Lantern. 'There's been all kinds of ups and downs, but I think, frankly, it's the only reason I'm here.' Streeter and other Kentuckians who've taken selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat depression are angry and confused over recent national rhetoric surrounding the drug class. Those who shared their stories with the Kentucky Lantern overwhelmingly said antidepressants improved their lives, and, in some cases, saved them. In a February executive order, President Donald Trump called for more research into SSRIs and directed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to study the 'threat' posed by the medications in his role as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kentucky experts agree that more research is always welcome, but say SSRIs are safe and effective at treating depression. Still, the federal Make America Healthy Again Commission, which Kennedy will chair, is charged with understanding chronic diseases. It will 'assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and weight-loss drugs,' according to the executive order. Kentucky lawmakers have moved to establish a task force aimed at implementing the MAHA principles in Kentucky. Kennedy's comments about SSRIs include saying they can be addictive and worse to quit taking than heroin — statements Kentucky experts say are false. 'That's a biologically inaccurate statement, because SSRIs are not addictive. Heroin is addictive,' said Brighid Kleinman, a Louisville psychologist. 'Tapering off appropriately, it works every time. You don't taper off an SSRI and then have a craving to go back on it. That's not how it works. You might find that your symptoms come back, in which case maybe it is helpful to be on it, but you're not thinking about it every day. You're not wishing you had this drug. You're not doing illegal things to try to get to it.' Early on … people would ask, 'what do they feel like?' Well, when they're really working, they don't feel like anything. That's the whole point. I would experience emotions in a way that I'd actually … read about in books. – Tom Streeter, who takes Zoloft for depression Kentuckians who are on antidepressants to treat mental health issues find the recent rhetoric surrounding the medications upsetting. 'They are absolutely full of crap,' Streeter said. 'Whatever their agenda is, it has nothing to do with anybody's well-being. I'm not going to listen to a guy who's had brain worms — literal brain worms — tell me what should be going in my freaking head. It makes me very angry.' Streeter was referring to Kennedy's experience being misdiagnosed with a tumor that turned out to be a brain worm. He added: 'I don't know what these people's agendas are. I don't care. Just leave me the hell out of it.' Kentucky medical experts, doctors and psychologists who weighed in on SSRIs said that overall, the medications are helpful for treating moderate to severe depression. SSRIs are used to treat depression, mainly, and may also treat anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Rif El-Mallakh, a professor of psychiatry and mood disorder expert at the UofL School of Medicine, said a lot is still unknown about the depressed brain. 'If you have a heart attack, we know that there's a blood vessel that's blocked and a piece of the heart dies,' he explained. 'But when you get depressed, we don't actually know what is happening in the brain to create the symptoms.' Nevertheless, depression is 'clearly a dysfunction' that results in a 'cascade of abnormalities' like low energy, sleep disruption, inflammation and more. 'It's a physical dysfunction of the body, but it doesn't produce direct physical symptoms,' said El-Mallakh. 'We can measure physical abnormalities … but the symptoms tend to be more subjective, or at least they seem more subjective.' When a person is depressed, they may experience unwanted behavioral changes — like irritability — just like an involuntary sneeze, he explained. 'We do know that when you're depressed, that you have difficulty functioning. That is, you're unable to do your routine tasks. You are less effective in everything,' said El-Mallakh. 'You might get up and do the dishes, but it takes you twice as long to do the dishes. You might indeed take care of your kids, but it takes more effort to take care of your kids.' Enter antidepressants, which can help regulate emotions, allowing people to better cope with stressors. 'The idea is that your brain is not using the serotonin it has, and it's using it up too fast, and these medications are helping keep the amount of serotonin stable in your brain,' explained Dr. Fareesh Kanga, a University of Kentucky assistant professor of psychiatry. Hannah Johnson, who holds a doctor of pharmacy and is an associate professor in the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, said people who have depression and anxiety may not be holding onto enough serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate moods, among other things. SSRIs block the serotonin reuptake transporter from 'suck(ing) up that serotonin,' resulting in depressive symptoms. In doing so, Johnson explained, the medications 'allow more serotonin to hang out in the synapse.' Psychologists say the results are clear: their patients who get on antidepressants are often better able to thrive in therapy and handle stress. Katie McBride, a Louisville psychologist, said sometimes clients are 'stuck,' be that due to complex trauma or severe depression. 'When I'm talking to clients, I'm saying: 'you're functioning, but you're using all of your energy, like you're clinging to the side of a mountain, and … because of that, you're just in a survival mode because your symptoms are so severe.' And so oftentimes, with the antidepressants, it's kind of helping to take enough of the edge off, or to kind of get on the landing to some stability,' McBride explained. With the medication, she said, 'you're not all the way away from the edge, but you're not having to use all of your energy to just … stay alive.' With that extra energy, she said, clients can learn about their emotions and develop skills to manage their behavior. Because of this, she said: 'the gold standard, if you will, is always … psychotherapy plus medication.' Dr. Caitlin Briggs, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky, said the medications are 'the first line treatments' for both children and adults. While Briggs agreed that it's ideal to have both therapy and medication, she pointed to therapist shortages that can keep people from getting established with a therapist. Other times, symptoms of depression are so severe a person may not be able to participate in therapy right away. 'Sometimes a kid is severely depressed or severely anxious that it's difficult for them to even participate or be receptive to the therapy, and a medication can really lighten the load a little bit and allow them to be able to participate better in the therapy treatment,' said Briggs. 'And there are kids that, when they've had the combination treatment, they're able to come off of the medication at some point. And that's always the goal but we understand that that's not the case for everyone.' Kleinman said SSRI experiences among her clients are 'overall good.' 'They're so mild, right? They are not a dangerous medicine,' Kleinman said. 'It is perfectly fine to take an SSRI, and if it doesn't work for you, stop taking it. It makes sense to prescribe them as a first line of treatment to see if it helps, because there's so few downsides.' Those 'downsides' Kleinman referred to — side effects of the medications — can include upset stomach in the beginning and, in some people, sexual dysfunction such as difficulty having an orgasm. 'Often it's having or sustaining an erection or feeling pleasure from sex,' she said. 'Those are relatively common. Much of the time, doctors will either change your medicine or reduce your medicine, because there's so many different SSRIs that if you're having sexual side effects with one of them, you may not with another one.' Johnson, the pharmacy expert, said depression itself can cause sexual dysfunction, so it's sometimes tricky to figure out if the disease is causing the issue or the treatment. The solution will vary person to person, she said. Experts agreed: it's important to have a long taper when stopping an SSRI, and to not quit the medications abruptly or without physician guidance. Stopping abruptly can result in 'discontinuation syndrome,' Kanga explained, which can come with some unpleasant side effects that people without medical training sometimes misinterpret as a withdrawal, but is not. SSRIs come with a 'black box warning' from the FDA, which says people younger than 25 may experience a small increase in suicidal thoughts. 'This was a blanket black box warning that they required all antidepressants to put onto their labeling — so they didn't specifically look at specific drugs and study specific drugs and assess for suicide or suicidal thinking or behaviors,' Johnson explained. 'They just looked back at all of the studies of these medications and saw that there was potentially a small increase in suicidal thinking or behaviors, and then they just … globally labeled it and put it on all of the antidepressants.' The black box warning came after the FDA analyzed clinical trials and found a small number of young people experienced more suicidality after starting treatment, according to the Mayo Clinic. 'The analysis showed that some children and teens taking antidepressants had a small increase in suicidal thoughts, compared with those taking a sugar pill (placebo),' according to the Mayo Clinic. None of the people in the studies ended their lives. Other research shows antidepressants effectively treat depression in this population. Experts emphasized: untreated major depression is a high risk factor for suicide. Prescribers will monitor a patient for increased energy when they start treatment. This, too, is when talk therapy is helpful. Therapists can help people navigate new feelings and energy that come with treating depression with medication. 'It's something that we definitely counsel people on and tell them about,' Johnson said. 'But it shouldn't prevent someone from being able to get one of these medications if they are able to have the support and monitoring for increased suicide risk during that time frame.' Kanga pointed out that suicide is already a leading cause of death among children and adolescents. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related breaks from the social interactions of school didn't help, nor do intergenerational trauma and social media. 'While, of course, we should put research money into cancer and into improving all aspects of children's lives,' Kanga said, 'if you want to stop having children die as children, we need to stop suicide, and we need to invest in mental health to do that.' Not only are SSRIs not addicting, experts say that when they work right, they won't feel like much of anything. While some people might experience an 'emotional blunting,' as McBride put it, Johnson said 'our goal is to have that full range of emotions' when on antidepressants. 'If someone's feeling that numbness, then we're not treating them with the right medication or the right approach,' Johnson said. Streeter thinks the misconception that antidepressants make people numb can be stigmatizing for people, though he is unbothered. 'Nobody's going to throw any contempt at me that I haven't thrown at myself,' he said. 'So … I don't worry a hell of a lot about it. Early on … people would ask, 'what do they feel like?' Well, when they're really working, they don't feel like anything. That's the whole point. I would experience emotions in a way that I'd actually … read about in books.' Most experts who spoke to the Lantern said there's no danger in staying on antidepressants longterm. El-Mallakh has some concerns about long-term use, but admits his opinion is a 'minority position.' Matt Milligan, who is from Versailles, first got on an antidepressant in high school. He was suicidal, and he voiced it often. His mother took him to a doctor who prescribed Effexor, which he's been on — with a few breaks — ever since. (Effexor is an antidepressant but in a different drug class than SSRIs). If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Still, Milligan says stigma around mental health is going backwards. 'In the late '90s and early 2000s there was an effort to de-stigmatize all this stuff — mental stuff — and now it's like we're under the gun again, and we can't really talk about it,' he said. 'It's like we have to go to our little online message groups or whatever, to just talk about … what we're feeling or what we're dealing with.' It 'makes people like me want to just slide back into the shadows where we can just kind of chill … and not have to worry about too much.' Milligan, 42, blames national politics and their trickle-down effect on Kentucky. 'Currently … politically, it's okay to be mean and disparaging towards people and … the meaner you are, the louder you are, the better you are,' he said. Kleinman has noted 'terror' among her clients lately. 'My patients are terrified that their lifesaving medicines are going to go away, or they're not going to have access to the thing that allows them to get out of bed or not be too anxious to work,' she said. 'I am seeing a lot of fear.' Lindsay Fouts, 42, said SSRIs helped her cope with 'real bad postpartum depression' and they helped her manage thoughts of suicide. Now, the Louisville woman is worried about the future. 'I'm anxious about everything happening in Washington right now,' she said. 'I'm anxious about everything happening politically right now, very anxious. And I have anxiety, so it doesn't help.' Rob Mattheu, who said SSRIs helped him cope with anxiety and panic surrounding the loss of his father, has a 'live and let live' mentality. 'If you don't feel they're right for you, then definitely don't take them, but don't dismiss the fact that they've helped other people,' the Fern Creek man, 54, said. Experts said more research and education on SSRIs are always welcome, but cautioned against buying into misinformation. 'For the people it works for, it can be life changing,' Kleinman said. 'I don't think we should prescribe less of them. I think that our research needs to get better in terms of figuring out for whom SSRIs will be helpful.' Briggs said stigma has improved, but there remain populations who see mental health as something one can choose to believe in or not. 'It's not necessarily something that you believe in,' Briggs, the UK psychiatrist, said. 'It's not like Santa Claus, it's not like the tooth fairy. Mental health is just as important as physical health. And if you don't treat your mental health, your physical health is not going to be as great.' If you don't feel they're right for you, then definitely don't take them, but don't dismiss the fact that they've helped other people. – Rob Mattheu There remain question marks around the future of antidepressants. For now, UofL psychiatrist El-Mallakh said it would be 'irresponsible' to 'take away something from people that are sick.' 'I think that it is important to understand that everything we do is associated with potential problems. You can argue that hammers are associated with broken thumbs, right? So we need to eliminate hammers? No. We need to use the tool more effectively,' he said. 'We need to understand that everything has its potential harm, and we need to deal with that, minimize that harm as much as possible.' Depression, he reiterated, is 'a disease that has to be treated.' 'Taking away the tools to treat our patients is wrong,' he said. 'It is ethically wrong, morally wrong, scientifically wrong.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
