Warning over antidepressants as top experts say powerful drugs may raise risk of suicide

Antidepressants may increase suicide risk, researchers warn today.

The powerful drugs — used by millions — could even spell death for patients battling the mental disorder, experts said today.

Academics at the University of East London have reviewed nearly 8,000 studies mentioning the drugs over the past two decades.

About half were definitively ruled suicide, showing that antidepressants ‘clearly didn’t work’ for thousands of Britons.

One in eight deaths involved an overdose of antidepressants themselves, showing that they “may be the mechanism for suicide,” said lead author Dr John Read.

Psychiatrists said the findings “do nothing” to allay concerns that depression treatments “might not have the intended effect on suicide outcomes.”

It comes after a landmark study last year that questioned society’s growing reliance on drugs like Prozac.

Academics at University College London debunked the main theory justifying why GPs dispense them so often, ruling that there was ‘no conclusive evidence’ to say that depression is caused by an imbalance of the ‘feel-good’ chemical serotonin.

Other studies have shown that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – the most commonly prescribed medication – work no better than a placebo.

Dr Read and colleagues analyzed media reports of 7,829 coroner inquests in England and Wales between 2003 and 2020.

Antidepressants were listed on the official statement of each death.

The reports come from the AntiDepAware website, created to track deaths related to the drugs.

It was founded by an anonymous father who lost his son to suicide in 2009, days after he was prescribed the SSRI citalopram for temporary insomnia.

The results, published this week in Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, show there were 2,718 hangings.

There were also 2,239 overdoses, 933 of which were with antidepressants themselves.

Another 552 deaths were due to being hit by a train, subway, truck, bus or other vehicle, while 979 were due to jumping, falling, drowning, electrocuting or shooting or setting themselves on fire.

Coroners reached a final ‘suicide’ verdict in 3,543 cases.

“If preventing suicide is a primary reason for prescribing antidepressants, this dataset includes several thousand people for whom the drugs clearly didn’t work,” the study states.

Dr. Read, a professor of clinical psychology, added, “I hope the painstaking work of a grieving parent will lead to a greater awareness of how dangerous these drugs can be.

“Not only do they not reduce suicidality, but they increase it for many, and for some they provide the mechanism to commit suicide.”

Researchers said the dataset relies primarily on the archives of local newspapers and is thus incomplete — meaning the total number of antidepressant deaths will actually be underestimated.

They noted that it is unclear how many deaths were due to the underlying problems for which antidepressants were prescribed and how much antidepressants contributed to.

Mental health organization Mind notes that antidepressants can improve mood and help people do things that don’t seem possible when they’re depressed.

But it can be concluded that the drugs “did not lift the depression enough” to prevent nearly 8,000 deaths, the researchers said.

Dr. Mark Horowitz, a clinical research fellow in psychiatry at the North East London NHS Foundation Trust, said it is ‘particularly concerning’ that SSRIs – marketed as safer than other forms of antidepressants – are being used for suicide in so many cases . example of research.

He said: ‘This study does not address the concern that the treatments we use for depression may not have the intended effect on suicide outcomes.

“Because this study makes it difficult to know if it was the drugs or the underlying condition that led to the suicides, we urgently need long-term randomized trials that look at the effect of antidepressants on suicidality to find out if they really help people.” or not.’

One in six people in England (8.32 million) took antidepressants in 2021/22, a 5.7 per cent increase from a year earlier.

Uptake has surged in recent years, despite growing unease among experts about the effectiveness of the drugs in treating depression.

Marion Brown, a psychotherapist, said, “Whenever you hear about a suicide, you wonder if there was a connection to these prescription drugs.

And all too often, as time goes on, the reports confirm that it probably was.

‘One effect of the drugs is that people describe that they can’t think about anything else at all but ending their life.’

The 2021 UCL study found that the evidence for antidepressant use was based on short studies that showed no significant effect.

The team concluded that there remains “significant uncertainty about the benefits” and that while the drugs may work for major depression, the “drawbacks may outweigh the benefits” for others.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists said the original idea that antidepressants “correct a chemical imbalance in the brain” is an oversimplification.

But the theory is still taught in medical schools and psychiatric textbooks.

Antidepressants can also cause a range of side effects, including dry mouth, nausea, headaches, and problems with sex, as well as withdrawal symptoms in those trying to come off them.

In recent months, the NHS watchdog has approved a range of apps and web courses aimed at tackling depression.

It is hoped that the provision of online services will accelerate access to treatment and reduce over-dependence on medicines.

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