A week ago today the U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued a strengthened warning about the dangers of antidepressants given to children 18 and under.
While critics of the drugs caution that users of all ages should be concerned, some experts who testified before the FDA last week attribute the problem to over-prescribing the medications to people who are only mildly ill.
"Strengthened warnings about the risk of suicide ideation and attempts with antidepressant medications in children should be communicated to physicians and consumers as soon as possible," said the joint FDA advisory committee in a statement.
The FDA committee heard evidence that antidepressants can suppress Rapid Eye Movement and block the muscle paralysis that occurs in that stage so some people may even act out their nightmares.
The regulation of waking, sleeping and dreaming occurs in the brainstem where serotonin neurons are clustered. Anti-depressants aim to regulate serotonin to varying degrees including the drugs Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox and Lexapro.
Ann Blake Tracy, executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness, said this is a crucial topic for young adults as well children under 18."It's important for college students to know this now," Tracy said. "What if they had been suicidal or violent due to these drugs and then labeled as mentally ill. That [label] will stick with you for life."
Tracy has worked with many high-profile cases that have been allegedly caused by anti-depressant drug usage such as the Columbine shootings, the Andrea Yates drownings, and the murder/suicide of Phil Hartman's wife.Withdrawing from the anti-depressants too abruptly, however, can cause the patient to have discontinuation syndrome, according to Tracy."If you don't wean [patients] off slowly, you can often end up with terrible withdrawal effects that can take years to overcome and can lead to withdrawal-induced bipolar disorder or psychosis or suicidal tendencies," she said.Some experts who testified before the FDA, however, caution that the drugs can still be useful to those who are seriously ill and doctors just need to be more careful.
British Medicine Journal Online said that Mark Hudak, a University of Florida professor and panel member, spoke in favor of careful anti-depressant usage.
"It was someone with a milder illness] who was put on these drugs with terrible consequences," Hudak said. "Something needs to be done to educate practitioners."
The New York Times said David Shaffer, Columbia University psychiatry professor, attributed the overall decline of suicides among children 18 and under to the increased usage of anti-depressants in recent years.
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