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Anti-depressants have been in the news a lot recently. There are new questions about anti-depressant use and the risk of suicide. Questions about why anti-depressant use seems to be on the rise. Questions about the risks of using anti-depressants during pregnancy. And questions about the safety of using anti-depressants in adolescence. Unfortunately, there are more questions than answers.
For me, these types of questions boil down to...Do the benefits outweigh the risks? And there is no right or wrong answer, I believe these questions need to be addressed on a case by case basis.
As with everything in life - Knowledge is power. So in this post we will take a look at the latest news surrounding anti-depressant use, as well as links to information on diagnosis and treatment of depression.
From NPR - FDA Considers Fresh Warning on Anti-Depressants...
We know depression can cause suicide, but can antidepressants do the same thing? Today the Food and Drug Administration is taking up one of the toughest questions facing the agency, whether certain types of anti-depressants known as SSRIs are dangerous.
NPR's Joanne Silberner reports that a panel convened by the FDA may have a hard time making a recommendation on what to do about this class of popular drugs, which includes Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil.
From USA Today - Depression Diagnoses Fell After FDA Antidepressant Warnings...
It was already known that antidepressant use among young people had fallen since the drugs began carrying a so-called "black box" warning about risks. But the data showing an extended decline in the level of depression diagnoses are new.
In some cases, untreated depression can be more dangerous than suicidal feelings when starting antidepressants and a spike in teenage suicides in 2004 worried some experts that could be another unintended result of the FDA warnings. Then, teen suicides fell slightly the following year, offering hope that the suicide increase was just a blip.
From The Examiner - Are Antidepressants Linked to Suicide...
There has been a long standing debate on the safety of antidepressants since the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its "black box" alert in 2004. This alert was printed on all antidepressant packaging warning patients and parents that children and adolescents have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior. (www.webmd.com)
Since then, depression diagnoses have fallen in all age groups and people who need help are not receiving treatment because they are afraid of treatment. When the warning came out, the public overreacted thus keeping people from seeking help and possibly committing suicide. Depression is not only a serious illness but it is also fatal.
From L.A. Times Health - Older Antidepressant Spurs More Suicidal Thinking In Men Than Newer Medications...
The largest clinical trial to date comparing an older, tricyclic antidepressant with a newer antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class has found that the emergence of suicidal thinking was almost 10 times more common in men taking the older drug than in those taking the newer medication.
The study also found that for men and women taking either medication, suicidal thinking was spread over the first six weeks of treatment, but peaked at roughly the fifth week before declining significantly after week six. Taking place at academic medical institutions across Europe, the trial, called Genome-Based Therapeutic Drugs for Depression--or GENDEP--gauged the responses to antidepressants of 811 persons ranging from 18 to 72 with depression.
From World News - Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy Linked With Some Adverse Outcomes In Newborn...
Exposure to a certain class of antidepressant medications during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk of preterm birth, a low five-minute Apgar score (a measure of overall health of the baby) and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. More than one in ten pregnant women are estimated to have depression,...
From Furious Seasons - Study: SSRIs Linked To Pre-Term Deliveries...
A Danish study out in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine asserts that women taking an SSRI anti-depressant while pregnant had double the risk of having a pre-term baby and had almost two and one-half times the risk of having their baby wind up admitted to a neo-natal ICU.
The study comes on the heels of an earlier study this year linking anti-depressant use during pregnancy to premature births.
From Neuroskeptic - U.S. Antidepressant Use
