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Increased suicide rates linked to removal of warnings on anti depressants?
Ross brought this up with me earlier in the day and I just saw a piece on NBC news making the same link. It's so hard to tell if this is based on real information or on pharmaceutical propaganda. The stat was that suicide has gone up in teenage girls 76% since the warnings came on. This increase does not seem possible. And the idea that this rise in suicide is caused by all of the young people who didn't go on meds because there were warning labels sounds totally unbelievable too. What is really happening out there?
4 comments:
Lizzie,
I saw the same story yesterday...and am daunted by the numbers. I'm not quite sure what these exact numbers mean, but I do know that international statistics showed that a similar warning in the Netherlands also resulted in an increase in suicides (this statistic was known even before the black box warnings were put on antidepressants for 18-24 year olds in the US). There are many heartbreaking stories out there of people who feel that antidepressants were a factor in their loved ones death. But statistics like the out of the Netherlands and this new one from the US really points to the fear that warnings can instill, and the possible damage that can ensue. We need education, we need awareness, and we need open dialouge about the issues and their potential treatments.
I think it's important to remember that there are no actual statistics of increased suicide rates to be linked to the removal of warnings on antidepressants. If you read the official report that the CDC released (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/suicide/), it never makes any references to a link between the increased suicide rates and the addition of warnings on antidepressants. The media has declared that there is a possible link between the two, but otherwise, there is no empirical evidence to support the claim. It is simply speculation that the media decided to endorse (source of funding unknown), but luckily, it appears that the CDC's analysis was conducted with objectivity resulting in a recommendation that "closer examination of these trends is warranted at federal and state levels." and that "health authorities and program directors should consider focusing suicide-prevention activities on these groups to help prevent suicide rates from increasing further." Anyone that is interested should take a look at the CDC report. It is very interesting and extremely different from what you see reflected in the media.
Interestingly enough, there is also a resource link found on the same website as the CDC report entitled "Antidepressant use in children, adolescents, and adults and risk for suicide" ( http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/antidepressants/default.htm), where the date the FDA starting issuing warnings on antidepressants is further confirmed to have begun during 2004.
AW-All good points--what scares me is that the CDC says, this is complicated and multi factorial and Big Pharma messaging is, this is simple, it's all about the black box warnings, and the media, picks up the single explanation---just like it does with other complex matters. ALSO: having worked with big pharma, I know that they package stories---they provide media outlets for free with packaged stories that are typically pre shot, cplete with "experts", and don't require any additional resources--whereas no one from the cdc is packaging stories.
Good words.
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