Re: anti-depressants and teen suicide

[Walt Byars <wbyars@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Going from personal experience, I attempted suicide in 2004 (ingested a
ton of pills but couldn't keep from throwing up, couldn't eat food for a
few days though) when I was 18 a month after I started taking Luvox. I
stopped taking it then, but I started taking it again in spring 2006 when
I was twenty and while I didn't attempt suicide again I was baker acted in
early july.

As far as I can tell, the correlation is probably there because I changed
my medications to anti-depressants when I was feeling worst. Perhaps this
could be why the study found the results, because the people who were
worst were more likely to take antidepressants.

> [there was some discussion of this awhile back on pen-l]
>
> August 8, 2006/New York TIMES
> New Depression Findings Could Alter Treatments
> By BENEDICT CAREY
>
> ...
>
> The study of suicide risk, led by Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia
> University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, was based on
> an analysis of Medicaid records of more than 4,400 people who were
> hospitalized for depression in 1999 and 2000.
>
> The researchers found no link between the antidepressant drugs and
> suicidal behavior in depressed patients 19 or older. But children and
> adolescents in the study who were taking antidepressants were about 50
> percent more likely than those not on the drugs to try to kill
> themselves. And they were about 15 times as likely as those not on the
> medications to complete the act, although the number of suicides was
> too small to draw definitive conclusions, the authors cautioned.
>
> In addition, there could be differences between the two groups that
> the Medicaid records didn't reveal: the children who received the
> drugs may have been more severely ill, skewing the results, they said.
>
> In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration required strong warnings on
> the labels of antidepressant drugs alerting parents and doctors of a
> possible suicide risk in some children. Since then many psychiatrists
> have been skeptical of the suicide link.
>
> "I was surprised by what we found," Dr. Olfson said. "I set out
> thinking we'd find that the drugs" significantly reduced suicide risk.
>
> The findings may prompt researchers to look at which children are most
> at risk, rather than continuing to debate whether the risk exists, he
> said.
> --
> Jim Devine / "In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to
> be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But
> in economics, it's the exact opposite." --- Paul Dirac [edited]
>