SSRIs like Prozac cause some people (3 to 5 percent) to experience a suicide
related side effects. These suicide side effects include suicidal thoughts,
suicidal gestures (typically cutting of the body), suicide attempts and actual
death by suicide.
People being treated with SSRIs like Prozac have become violent and suicidal.
Others have complained of severe withdrawal reactions.
The drugs listed in the FDA warning are all newer antidepressants: Prozac,
Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Celexa, Remeron, Lexapro, Luvox, Serzone and Wellbutrin.
The FDA action follows Britain's version of the FDA citing in December 2003
evidence of a twofold to threefold increase risk of suicide and suicidal
thinking in children and adolescents with the SSRI drugs like Prozac.
These two agency actions follow 16 years of long-standing controversy about
the possibility that SSRI antidepressants like Prozac might induce suicide
tendencies in some patients. Reports of unusual and severe reactions with SSRIs
began shortly after Prozac, the first SSRI, was introduced in 1988.
SSRI manufacturers and the medical community have been aware that SSRIs can
cause suicidal behavior for almost 15 years. Despite the numerous studies
linking increased suicide risk with SSRIs like Prozac, drug manufacturers
continued to refute these claims.
In 1990 two Harvard researchers and psychiatrists published an article
entitled: "Emergence of Intense Suicidal Preoccupation During Fluoxetine
Treatment." This article, which appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry
reported that persistent, obsessive, and violent suicidal thoughts emerged in a
minority of patients treated with fluoxetine (Prozac).
Yale psychiatrist Dr. Robert A. King researched SSRI-induced suicide risk
in1991. His peer-reviewed article, "Emergence of Self-Destructive Phenomena in
Children and Adolescents during Fluoxetine Treatment," stated that
"self-injurious ideation or behavior appeared de novo or intensified during
fluoxetine (Prozac) treatment."
SSRIs like Prozac have been found to increase the risk of suicide and are
also found to be no more effective than a sugar pill.
Most studies find that SSRIs are no more effective in fighting teenage
depression than sugar pills. Even in adults, SSRIs have been found to offer only
modest benefits. In about half of all adult tests, the drugs prove no more
effective than placebos.
These results are from studies published by drug manufacturers. There are
numerous studies that remain unpublished. It is assumed that these unpublished
studies contained unfavorable results.
GlaxoSmithKline, for instance, acknowledged that just one of its nine studies
of Paxil in children and adolescents has been published. The one published study
made only passing mention of suicide and concluded that the drug was effective
against depression. According to the FDA, the combined results of all nine
trials show that the drug is not effective against depression in patients under
18.
Unpublished studies of Effexor, for example, suggested the drug increased
suicide-related events such as suicidal thoughts or attempts by 14 times
compared with placebo.
Other drug companies similarly have withheld negative studies of SSRIs,
claiming that the studies are "trade secrets." With negative results not
disclosed, physicians often believe the drugs are more effective and safer than
they actually are.
In addition to the increased suicide risk and low level of effectiveness, all
pharmaceutical drugs cause side effects ranging from mild to life-threatening.
The natural antidepressant Deprex safely and effectively relieves depression
symptoms without side effects commonly associated with pharmaceutical
medications.
Depression Help Center.