Biggest Ever Review: Antidepressants can raise the risk of suicide

A recent analysis, the largest to date, has found that antidepressants can raise the risk of suicide. The analysis looked at 70 trials of the most common antidepressants and involved more than 18,000 people. What they found was that the drug doubled the risk of suicide and aggressive behaviour in those under 18s. The review was carried out by the Nordic Cochrane Centre and analysed by University College London who endorsed the findings in an editorial in the British Medical Journal.

The drugs reviewed were duloxetine, fluoxetine (also known as Prozac), paroxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine which belong to two classes, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors antidepressants (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).

Families have claimed for years that antidepressants caused their loved ones to commit suicide, but they’ve been largly dismissed by medical companies and doctors who claimed a link was unproven. But, after the review compared clinical trial info to actual patient reports the scientists found, “pharmaceutical companies had regularly misclassified deaths and suicidal events in people taking anti-depressants to “favour their products,” reports The Telegraph.

Experts are deeply concerned that clinical trials appear to have been misreported. Professor Peter Gotzche of the Nordic Cochrane Centre said, “It is absolutely horrendous that they have such disregard for human lives.”

From the article:

“Dr Joanna Moncrieff from University College London said: “People in the United Kingdom are consuming more than four times as many antidepressants as they did two decades ago. Despite this, we still do not fully understand the effects of these drugs.”

The UK now has the seventh highest prescribing rate for antidepressants in the Western world, with around four million Britons taking them each year – twice as many as a decade ago at a cost of more than £200 million a year for the 53 million prescriptions now written.

Although NHS guidelines state that under 18s should not be given antidepressants there are more than 100,000 prescriptions for Prozac each year for teenagers, despite reviews showing that the drugs are no more effective than counselling.”

The review analysed the published summary reports, provided by pharmaceutical companies, to drug regulators and then compared it with raw data from the clinical trials. What the team found was that clinical studies have likely underestimated the extent of drug related harm. For instance:

Four deaths were misreported by one unnamed pharmaceutical company, who claimed they had occurred after the trials had stopped.
One patient unexpectedly strangled himself after taking venlafaxine but because he survived for five days, he was excluded from the results; it was claimed he was no longer on the trial while he was dying in hospital.
More than half of the suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts had been misrecorded as emotional instability or worsening of depression. In summary trial reports from the drugs giant Eli Lilly, suicidal attempts were missing in 90 per cent of cases.
One father, whose son committed suicide after taking Citalopram, has been monitoring suicides related to antidepressant medication for the last three years and has set up the anonymous campaigning website AntiDepAware; this month there have been at least 35 inquests with deaths linked to antidepressants. Last year there were more than 450.

Lead author from the Nocrid Cochrane Center, Professor Peter Gøtzsche, said, “Antidepressants don’t work in children, that is pretty clear, in the randomised trials children say that they don’t work for them, but they increase their risk of suicide. What I get out of this colossal underreporting of suicides is that SSRIs likely increase suicides in all ages.”

Young woman suffering from a severe depression/anxiety (color to Before anti-depressants are offered to children and young adults, exercise and psychotherapy should be offered, as the harm that they might cause more than outweigh the benefits. And parents MUST understand the weight of antidepressants. Also, if they are deemed absolutely necessary, they should NEVER be the only course of action- reports the team.

Not surprising, when confronted with the study, drug companies defended their data adding that safety was their “top priority”. Which, I believe everyone knows is just a silly statement.