they take a pill, a drink, they try
to escape. If they can't get relief
right away, their bad situation
turns easily into despair. Every-
body has to learn to cope with
disappointment and even trag-
ic happenings. It's part of living.
"If someone we love doesn't un-
derstand this, it's up to us to con-
vince them. There is no greater
mitzvah (commandment or good
deed) than to save a life."
In his book, Dr. Gordon asserts
that the most important suicide-
prevention rule for parents is to
maintain communication with
their children, "no matter what
they do." He offers the following
advice to parents of teen-agers
suffering from depression
who suspect their child may be
thinking of suicide or who have
been alerted to the possibility by
a sibling or friend of the young-
ster:
• Take the warning seriously.
Do not trust your own judgment
about whether the warning is se-
rious or not. Many suicides are
committed after the depression .
has lifted and the youngster has
regained the energy to go
through with the act. The "calm
period" must be treated with ur-
gency.
• It is crucial to understand
that suicidal intent is always
temporary. It can be reversed.
• Don't argue with the teen-
ager or attempt to prove that
thinking about suicide is silly.
Almost all
suicides are
preventable.
• Talk about the problem and
don't be afraid to ask questions
about suicidal intent. Try to find
out what is troubling the young-
ster. Direct sympathetic discus-
sion about suicide does not
provoke suicidal behavior.
• If the crisis is urgent, seek
the assistance of a counselor,
minister, rabbi, suicide preven-
tion clinic or whatever support
system is available. If the child
refuses to meet with anyone, call
for help anyhow — secretively if
necessary.
Treatment For MS
From Israeli Company
Jerusalem (JTA) — A drug un-
der development by Israel's Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries has
been found to reduce the rate of
relapses in certain cases of mul-
tiple sclerosis.
The promising findings, based
on clinical tests conducted in the
United States, were announced
in San Francisco, where they
were presented to the annual
meeting of the American Neuro-
logical Association.
The results of the tests were
discussed at an international
news conference broadcast Tues-
day and viewed by reporters in
Israel and Europe.
The findings are being hailed
as a breakthrough in the treat-
ment of the crippling neurologi-
cal disease, 75 percent of whose
victims are women.
There are an estimated
350,000 victims of the disease in
the United States, roughly one-
third of whom stand to benefit
from the new drug, called copoly-
mer 1. In Israel, 1,500 people suf-
fer from the disease, about 500 of
whom could benefit from the
drug.
Scientists do not know exact-
ly what triggers the auto-immune
disease and they say no cure is
expected in the foreseeable fu-
ture.
Copolymer 1, being developed
by Teva, Israel's largest phar-
maceutical company, was dis-
covered at the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Rehovot,
Israel. It was clinically investi-
gated at Hadassah Hospital in
Jerusalem and at the Albert Ein-
stein College of Medicine in New
York.
The drug, also known as Co-
paxone, has been found to help in
cases of what is known as re-
lapsing-remitting multiple scle-
rosis, in which unpredictable
attacks often leave the victims in-
creasingly disabled.
Patients treated with the drug
daily over a two-year study suf-
fered 24 percent fewer relapses
than patients who took a place-
bo, announced Dr. Kenneth John-
son, professor and chairman of
the Department of Neurology at
the University of Maryland
School of Medicine and chief in-
vestigator in the study.
Those who took the drug also
experienced a decrease in the
amount of disability they suffered
over the same period.
Adverse side effects were "very
short-lived," said Dr. Johnson,
who said the drug had an "excel-
lent" safety profile.
'These promising findings con-
firmed our hopes of developing
an entirely new treatment for this
devastating disease," said Dr.
Johnson.
Dr. Stephen Reingold, vice
president of research and med-
ical programs for the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society in the
United States, said the "society
is highly encouraged by these
promising results."
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