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.

[meyer]

How about homicides?

Don't be silly - only guns cause homicide.

/sarcasm. :)

[DallasMike]

great response

I've had the argument here more than once. What convinced me that there was more to mental illness than "just having a good attitude" was a childhood friend -- one of 5 children -- who contracted schizophrenia as a young adult. She turned from a smart, cheerful, outgoing Christian young woman to someone who talked to light bulbs. Along with that I've had a few friends who have gone through major depression for no reason and antidepressants made all the difference with them.

[mewzilla]

LOL. And while I do appreaciate what a Godsend these meds can be, I still think they're overprescribed. And that oftentimes even when they are properly prescribed, patients aren't monitored carefully enough. There's more to treating mental illness than pill pushing.

[Timesink]

Ah, Logan's Run. The movie that combined the classic sensibilities of a 1930s sci-fi morality tale with the dynamic flair of a 1970's shopping mall.

[BossLady]

Have you seen 'Equalibrium'? Interesting concept brought forth in that movie.

[meyer]

And while I do appreaciate what a Godsend these meds can be, I still think they're overprescribed. And that oftentimes even when they are properly prescribed, patients aren't monitored carefully enough. There's more to treating mental illness than pill pushing.

I tend to agree, though I'm not really an expert in that area. I suppose that it depends on the medication, the dose, and the symptoms, but I suspect that there are plenty of episodes where the medical community does little diagnosing and instead just prescribes the "relatively" harmless pills based on self-proclaimed depression.

That said, problems and diseases of the mind are considerably more elusive than those of the body - Mental illness is something that is hard to pinpoint, particularly with the inexact science (and a ton of psuedo-science) that exists in the field. If (and that's a big "if") the medication has a low level of side effects and it works for the majority of patients, then I'm not against prescribing it, provided the patient is informed as to the effects of the medication. Stronger medications, of course, require a much greater deal of care in administration.

[MD_Willington_1976]

More Antidepressants Linked to Fewer Suicides

...and higher use of Viagra and other "Erectile Disfunction" drugs...

[fight_truth_decay]

..but certainly there has been no increase in suicide as antidepressant treatments have become available

Patients with psychotic depression are seriously ill and will almost always require hospitalisation. Antidepressant therapy alone is unlikely to be effective.A worrying recent trend is the increasing rate of suicide among younger men (a trend not seen among young women).

Dr Brian Lunn and the Newcastle Affective Disorders Group:
There are around 4000 recorded suicides per year in the UK, but it is estimated that it is under-reported by 30 to 50 per cent.It is among the 10 commonest causes of death, and the fourth commonest for young adults. Since the 1960s the rates have been increasing.

I guess it depends on the study. ;)

[Truth666]

In Swiitzerland they prefer a "Assisted Suicide" poster campaign, similar to the recent "Stop Aids" campaign, required to reduce suicide costs of $1.8 billions

[SendShaqtoIraq]

"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."

I am unfortunate enough to have a cousin who spouts this exact crap. I pray frequently that no one else in her family becomes mentally ill, as her attitude would drive them straight to suicide.

[hasegawasama]

hey antidepressants are needed for the most severe cases, although generally they are BAD ! anti depressants screw a person up big time. better to pray and meditate

[Nomi4779]

Anyone who thinks deaths due to these kinds of drugs is decreasing must not keep up with the news. My own mother is dead(as of last year)as a direct result from problems my sister was having with the drug Paxil. It has literally wrecked our lives. My sister and I had been caregivers(with no help from anyone)for both parents for years. My sister is the only one who would live with our mother(who was difficult to live with). There were so many health needs for both parents, we stayed exhausted, and noone would help us at all. Each of us had chronic health problems ourselves, but had no choice but continue on. Our father died in 2001, about that time, my sister went into the hospital with severe depression. She was put on this drug(Paxil, she started having problems early on which I reported to her therapist), and now our mother is dead, and my sister who is physically ill, and has mental issues is facing prison. Go to the Paxil Database, and the Drug Awareness Network. There are all kinds of horrors linked to these kinds of drugs. They are linked to homicide and suicide.