Hi Linda - sorry to hear your son is not doing well. T did try Luvox at one stage - didn't have any bad side affects but didn't help either. My doctors first anti-depressant for children/adolescents is lovan (Prozac) and this is what T did well on the first few years. My 20yo daughter has recently had a bit of a breakdown - has been coming for a while with anxiety related issues and finally came to a head when uni semester went back. So off to the doctor we went and he didn't hesitate with our family history to start her on medication (Lovan) and booked her straight in for psychologist appointments. She was at the stage of not eating or talking and staying in bed all day - almost 2 weeks later she is pretty much back to her old self. She did feel awful for first couple of days but nothing too sinister. We are hopeful she will only need to be on it for 6 months and with the counselling get her back on track. T has been on Escitalopram for the last couple of years and still doing well - have halved her dosage and still doing well. Over the years I have worked out if a medication is not showing positive effects within the recommended time frame or stops working, we are straight back to the doctor for either a dosage adjustment or change. Interestingly some recent research I was reading about indicated that some people do better on a lower dose that the recommended one, especially for anxiety disorders. Thinking of you both and also hope your friend's son improves in care. xx