More Antidepressants Linked to Fewer Suicides

Yahooooo News ^ | 09/24/03 | Richard Woodman

[bedolido]

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Suicide rates have fallen dramatically in many countries following wider use of modern antidepressant drugs, according to study results reported on Wednesday.

This finding contrasts with charges from some patients and advocacy groups that SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are addictive and can trigger violence and suicide.

A jury awarded $6.4 million in 2001 against GlaxoSmithKline after deciding Paxil was partly to blame for the behavior of Donald Schell who, after taking the drug, shot dead his wife, daughter and granddaughter and then himself.

Earlier this year UK regulators said that the Glaxo drug and Wyeth's Efexor (Effexor in the US) should not be taken by under-18s because of an increased risk of suicidal thoughts in this age group. A recent change in the drug label also says the risk of suicide can be higher in the early days of therapy.

But Goran Isacsson, professor in the department of psychiatry at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said studies in several countries showed suicide rates had declined, sometimes dramatically, since the SSRI drugs were introduced.

He told participants at the European Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Prague that analysis of suicides in Sweden suggested about 100 deaths were prevented in 1990 following the drugs' Swedish launch. As the use increased, so the suicide rate continued to decline.

Another study, of 15,400 Swedish suicides between 1992 and 2000, showed that the suicide rate in people taking antidepressants was 217 per 100,000 person years compared with 477 in people not taking antidepressants.

Evidence from other Nordic countries, Australia, and a dramatic decline in suicides among young people in the United States also backed the association between rising drug use and declining suicide, though he stressed this did not prove antidepressants prevent suicide.

David Baldwin, senior lecturer at Southampton University, UK, said suicide rates had declined in the UK from 6.3 per 1000 person years in the era before treatment to 5.7 in the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) era, to 3.3 following the introduction of the first antidepressants in the 1960s.

"We can't say this is due to the arrival of antidepressants or ECT--there are many other factors to consider--but certainly there has been no increase in suicide as antidepressant treatments have become available," he said.

[aynrandfreak]

But those evil drug companies were only saving lives for their evil profits. (/sarcasm)

[Pan_Yans Wife]

And their labs are filled with mad scientists!

[mewzilla]

How about homicides?

[Hildy]

I think anti-depressants, in many circumstances, are the best thing ever developed.

[y2k_free_radical]

among the best-antibiotics,cancer,hypertensive,diabetic,pain,thrombosis,pregnancy drugs are also good

[dirtboy]

I'm going to a funeral tomorrow night for a gal who fought depression for years and then blew her brains out over the weekend when she was fired from her job.

[DallasMike]

But those evil drug companies were only saving lives for their evil profits.

Careful now -- there are more than a few Freepers who believe that the only cure for massive clinical depression or schizophrenia is to read the Bible.

[catonsville]

Indeed they are.

[Hildy]

First off, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. Depression is awful. Anything that can help depression I'm for. Some of these drugs are incredible.

[joesnuffy]

yep they die early as a result of liver toxicity complications instead

[BossLady]

If anyone is interested......A great book on this subject is "Surviving Manic Depression' by E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. and Michael B. Knable, D.O. They cover all areas of depression (also manic depression, bi-polarism etc), all meds used and what the purposes for each med is, resources for sufferers and families and so much more. Dr. Torrey is the president of the Treatment Advocacy Center and Exec. Dir. of the Stanley Foundation Research Programs.

[John Jorsett]

On the subject of drugs: wouldn't it be cheaper to give one teacher Quaaludes than an entire class of kids Ritalin?

[Timesink]

Careful now -- there are more than a few Freepers who believe that the only cure for massive clinical depression or schizophrenia is to read the Bible.

To Hell with them.

[Nachum]

I am the parent of a depressed child who can tell you the drugs can make a remarkable difference. Also, I know if at least two other parents who have children with behavioral issues. The drugs make it possible for these kids to lead normal, productive lives.

I knew one of them before medication and after. The parents literally were at their wits end as to how to deal with the child. When a child is bouncing off the wall, breaking every thing in the house and ones' neighbors houses, and has no regard for pain, a parent has few options.

[Timesink]

I'm going to a funeral tomorrow night for a gal who fought depression for years and then blew her brains out over the weekend when she was fired from her job.

Sadly, although the medical community does not want the public to know about this (for a good reason, I must admit) 20-30% of people with major clinical depression cannot be successfully treated. No amount of antidepressants and/or therapy ever helps them, or at least doesn't help enough to matter too much. Though I suppose being able to "improve" such a patient from being constantly suicidal to merely being constantly miserable is better than nothing ... and I even have my questions about that.

It's enough to make me wonder if there even IS a God.

[babble-on]

great response

[kinghorse]

I'll go for this only if as a parent I can get the quaaludes too!

Quaaludes, dude that so 70's.

[kinghorse]

amen.

[bedolido]

Strange how this old film saw the future.

They all took little pills --- or they ran