Questions have been raised in the past about the balance of benefits and risks of antidepressants for youngsters. In fact, a Swedish study published in 2015 showed that people between 15 and 24 were more likely to commit violent crimes if they were taking SSRI-type antidepressants. (We wrote about that study here.)
A new study in the BMJ confirms that children and teenagers who take standard antidepressant medications such as duloxetine (Cymbalta), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft) or venlafaxine (Effexor) are more likely to become aggressive or attempt suicide.
The study was a meta-analysis with a twist. The Danish researchers reviewed results from 70 clinical trials involving over 18,000 patients, and they tracked down the data on the individual patients.
Published Reports Played Down Harms:
They found that some of the published studies misreported adverse events and may have underestimated the degree of harm that patients experienced.
Aggression and Suicide Attempts Doubled:
Although the authors found no significant link to adult suicides, they found that the danger of aggression or suicide was doubled in teenagers as well as younger children taking such antidepressants.
This doesn’t mean that young people should not be prescribed medications when they are seriously depressed, but it does suggest that they require close monitoring in case they react badly.
