Antidepressants ‘make young more than twice as likely to feel suicidal’

August 12, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

www.telegraph.co.uk

Taking antidepressants can make young people more than twice as likely to feel suicidal, a new review of scientific studies shows.

The drugs reduced the likelihood of older people having suicidal thoughts but significantly increased the risk among 18 to 25-year-olds, according to the findings.

Patients taking 18 different antidepressants, including the controversial drug Seroxat, which has previously been linked to fears it could increase the risk of suicide, were included in the review, one of the largest of its kind and involving almost 100,000 adults.

Researchers found that suicidal thoughts and behaviour among under 25-year-olds on antidepressants were up to 2.3 times more common than those who were given a placebo.

Antidepressant drugs currently carry warnings that they could increase suicidal thoughts and behaviour, especially among younger patients.

Previous studies have suggested that the medications can increase the risk of suicide among children and adolescents.

In 2003 doctors were warned not to give most common antidepressants to under 18s, because of fears that the risks outweighed the benefits.

The latest findings, published online by the British Medical Journal, show that there was no increased risk among 25 to 64-year-olds, and that the risk fell in patients aged 65 and above.

The team who carried out the research, from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in America, believe that the results show that antidepressants can promote suicidal thoughts or behaviour in some patients, particularly those in the younger age brackets. Read full article…