Antidepressants’ risk of suicide now called low
Professionals and researchers have long documented (oh, for the past 15 years or more) the correlation between antidepressant use and suicide. It’s not a causal relationship and I’m not sure anybody was ever claiming it was. The cause of increase suicide is likely due to the increased energy levels that antidepressant medications bring to most people — the so-called “energizing effect.”
Energy’s great when you’re not depressed — it lets you get things done. But when you’re suffering from depression, energy gives you the drive and can help clear some of the fog from your head just enough to help give you a clear plan on how to end it all. That’s the downside to antidepressants. Most professionals know of this and keep a careful eye on clients when first started on antidepressants, since those energizing feelings come long before the beneficial antidepressant feelings come.
But lo and behold, antidepressants don’t help as much with people who grapple with depression more than once. In fact, as the linked Boston Globe article explains, 50% of patients who try an antidepressant the second time around will feel no significant effects from it. Isn’t science grand?
The bigger worry, said the authors of the suicide study published in today’s American Journal of Psychiatry, is that antidepressants don’t significantly help most people who have chronic depression. A separate major report in today’s issue of the journal found that antidepressants brought complete relief to about 30 percent of patients who have recurrent bouts of depression — and half saw no improvement at all.
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5 Comments to
“The Good News: Antidepressants Don’t Cause Suicide (duh), The Bad News: Antidepressants Aren’t Always Effective”
anti depressants can cause suicidal thoughts and can actually increase the risk of suicide to under 18’s
I totally agree with your assessment. People who are chronically depressed usually have a personality disorder feeding the depression, and PDs do not respond to antidepressants.
It’s like blaming the messenger. If someone is determined to commit suicide, there’s not much that can stop them. Antidepressants are not magic tonics. They take off the edge, and allow the person to deal with their issues in therapy.
I don’t agree with the assesment that the chronically depressed have PD. I’m one of those with chronic depression. I had one antidepressant that worked, but only for a few years before it lost its effectiveness. I have had so much trouble finding an effective antidepressants until I recieved the VNS therapy. I’m so grateful for this technology and its effectiveness. I hope that this will last long-term. If not, at least, I tried. I am a fighter for my well-being.
i have a phobia of death, the only time i ever felt suicidal in the last few years was when I was on fluoxetine. no other anti-depressant has done that, and nor should it, i dont want to die, i just feel drab. explain to me why, when i had no desire before or since taking that drug why else would it make me feel that way? and dont suggest it was anything to do with psycho-suggestion, I didnt know there was any correlation at the time.
Antidepressants DO cause suicidal thoughts you didn’t have before you took them.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 Jan 2006
