Researchers say warning label on antidepressants had unintended effects
Friday, November 27th, 2009
By: Maiken Scott
mscott@whyy.org
New research claims a warning label meant to protect children and adolescents from some potentially deadly side effects of antidepressants may have had unintended consequences.
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In 2004, The Food and Drug Administration required the makers of all antidepressants to add a warning to packages. The label detailed the heightened risk for suicidal behavior in children and youth taking these drugs. Suicidal behavior includes suicidal thoughts and non-lethal attempts. University of Utah Psychiatrist David Rudd studied what happened after the warning was added. He says the label confused many people – including primary care doctors who prescribe the vast majority of antidepressants:
Rudd: They actually believed and apparently have communicated, when they talk with patients, specifically parents that there is risk for death by suicide, and that just isn't the case.
Rudd says the label was added to alert parents and doctors to behaviors that unchecked could lead to suicide. Instead, doctors became reluctant to prescribe antidepressants to youth and parents didn't want their kids to take them. He says the ironic, and tragic, impact has been a rise in suicide rates among adolescents:
Rudd: You saw an 18 percent increase in death rates by suicide for adolescents and children that's continued for the last couple of years, and this follows almost a decade of decline in suicide rates, so that shift was very noticeable
The issue is much bigger than the warning label, counters pediatric psychologist Ronald Brown of Temple University. He says the biggest problem is access to treatment:
Brown: There's clearly a shortage of mental health providers and services for adolescents in other words, it's not accessible to all adolescents
In addition – Brown says because of limited access, effective treatment options that don't involve medications, such as therapy, are not used as much as they could be.
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Dr. Rudd, take any money from the makers of antidepressants? Are you saying you can directly tie an increase in the rate of suicide to a decrease in use. I would like to see the published results. Unmonitored, these drugs can be very dangerous.That is why there are warning on these drugs. The companies making them knew there were dangerous side effects and fought to keep them out of the public's awareness. If you decide to take these meds, read the med guide so you know what to look for, and stay in close contact with your doctor. And beware of junk scientists like Rudd.
It should be pointed out that there is much evidence going back to long before antidepressants were invented that psychotherapy may also increase suicidal behaviors in the first few weeks of treatment.
The Physicians Desk Reference states that SSRI antidepressants and all antidepressants can cause mania, psychosis, abnormal thinking, paranoia, hostility, etc. These side effects can also appear during withdrawal. Also, these adverse reactions are not listed as rare but are listed a either Frequent or Infrequent.
Go to http://www.SSRIstories.com where there are over 3,400 cases, with the full media article available, involving bizarre murders, suicides, school shootings/incidents [51 of these] and murder-suicides – all of which involve SSRI antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc, . The media article usually tells which SSRI antidepressant the perpetrator was taking or had been using.
"Instead, doctors became reluctant to prescribe antidepressants to youth and parents didn't want their kids to take them. He says the ironic, and tragic, impact has been a rise in suicide rates among adolescents." That is actually A BALD FACED LIE.
There has been NO downshift in the prescriptions written for antidepressants. Antidepressants HAVE been, and continue to be, one of the top prescribed drugs in the US.
Suicidal behaviors LEAD to suicide – you can not commit suicide without exhibiting suicidal behaviors. So do not fill the readers heads up with some crap about drugs causing ONLY suicidal "behavior" because suicide is the end result – directly linking antidepressants to SUICIDE.
Just between 2004 – 2006, SSRI's have been linked, ACCORDING TO MEDWATCH'S FILES, 122 suicides, and that number is RISING. These drugs handle nothing – they are a temporary cover-up for an underlying situation. I will not even go INTO the commonly spoken lie of "chemical imbalances", psychiatrists themselves can not truly say that is fact. It is not PROVEN.
Sadly, however, the psychiatric/pharmaceutical industries have mastered the art of "saying a lie LOUD enough, and ENOUGH TIMES" to make that lie considered fact. Do not BUY the lie. The repercussions are many, and the facts are few.
Check out the CCHRInt's "Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Search Engine" which offers you insight into FDA reports and conclusions about psychiatric drugs. Check it out before you hurt yourself, or someone else.