CCHR warns that 5.7 million 0-24-year-olds on antidepressants face increased suicide risks, as new study confirms.

By CCHR International
Mental Health Industry Watchdog
September 12, 2023

In a new study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers have found selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) antidepressants increase the risk of suicide attempts threefold for those younger than 18 and up to twofold for those aged 18-24. The drugs had no preventative effect at any age, even for those at high risk of suicide.[1] Psychiatrists and doctors are taking enormous risks in continuing to prescribe these drugs to children, teens, and young adults, given long-term research findings. The IQVia Total Patient Tracker Database reports that in 2020, an estimated 5.7 million Americans ages 0-24 were prescribed antidepressants, of which 2.1 million were 17 or younger. More than 35,210 children were ages 5 or younger.[2]

The study was led by Tyra Lagerberg at the Karolinska Institutet, a medical university in Stockholm, Sweden. It found a higher risk of suicidal behavior in individuals under 25 treated with SSRIs after a depression diagnosis compared to untreated counterparts. “There is evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that antidepressant treatment increases risk of newly onset suicide attempts or ideation in children and adolescents.”[3] 

Strike One: Suicide

Despite having evidence of the suicide risk in 1991, it took a 13-year campaign by parent groups, doctors, attorneys, and CCHR, to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 to add a black box suicide warning to antidepressants, initially for children and adolescents, and in 2007 expanded to include ages up to 24.

One would have expected a decline in their prescribing. A 2016 study published in the BMJ medical journal warned doctors to “avoid prescribing antidepressants to children and teenagers wherever possible because they are associated with a doubling in the risk of aggression and suicide.”[4] 

However, profit—an estimated $28.6 billion in global antidepressant sales in 2020[5]—is a strong incentive for prescribers to ignore the warnings, Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, says.

Since the FDA warning, doctors and psychiatrists have continued to prescribe the powerful drugs to this age group.  Indeed, the Neuropsychopharmacology study showed SSRI antidepressants are the first-line pharmacological treatment for depression and other so-called mental disorders. Furthermore, “the prevalence of antidepressant use in children and adolescents increased from 13 to 16% in the USA and from 07 to 11% in the United Kingdom in 2005–2012,” according to another study published in Frontiers Psychiatry in May 2022.[6]

That meta-analysis of antidepressant studies also confirmed that antidepressant exposure significantly increased the risk of suicide and suicide attempts when compared with no antidepressant usage among children and adolescents.[7]

In April this year, a University of East London study reviewed media reports on nearly 8,000 coroners’ inquests and found that antidepressants were linked to 2,718 cases of hanging, 933 overdose deaths, and 979 suicides.[8]

CCHR’s national Australian office obtained adverse event reports on psychiatric drugs from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), equivalent to the FDA, that reported suicides in children aged between 10 and 19 linked to antidepressants.[9]

CCHR has recorded cases such as a 14-year-old Irish boy who shot and killed himself after 46 days on fluoxetine (Prozac). His grieving mother said, “My son had no history of self-harm, depression or suicidal thoughts, he’d just had anxiety,” until prescribed the drug. The psychiatrist prescribed the antidepressant to “help” the teen “with his exams,” after seeing him for only 10 minutes, according to the mother.[10]

One parent leading the campaign to expose psychiatric drug suicide risks is Mathy Milling Downing, whose 12-year-old daughter, Candace, tragically took her own life four days after starting on an antidepressant also prescribed for exam anxiety.[11] Mrs. Downing is one of numerous mothers who speak candidly about being misinformed about antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs, with similar tragic results for their children.  The mothers are part of CCHR’s must-see documentary for parents, Dead Wrong: How Psychiatric Drugs Can Kill Your Child.[12] 

The documentary host, Celest Steubing, courageously speaks out about her 18-year-old son, Matthew, who parked his Ford pickup truck on an aging bridge, climbed the span’s superstructure, and jumped, killing himself from the fall. Matthew had been a vibrant kid, happy and full of life. But after a rough patch in his senior year of high school left him feeling down, a psychologist suggested he would benefit from the antidepressant Lexapro (escitalopram). He became withdrawn and anxious, which Celeste said led to his suicide just nine weeks after starting on the drug.[13]

Strike Two: Violence

Antidepressants can also have violent adverse effects for some. In 2017, renowned researcher Peter C. Gøtzsche published findings in the BMJ of a review of 64,381 pages of clinical study reports (70 trials) obtained from the European Medicines Agency: “We showed for the first time that SSRIs in comparison with placebo increase aggression in children.” In a paper entitled, “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,” he warned the adverse effects are not limited to children through young adults, stating that anxiety, agitation, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, hypomania, and mania, “have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants.”

Further, “It can no longer be doubted that antidepressants are dangerous and can cause suicide and homicide at any age.”[14]

More research from Sweden reveals that young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 who had filled prescriptions for antidepressants were more likely to be convicted of a homicide, assault, robbery, arson, kidnapping, sexual offense, or other violent crime when they were taking the medications than when they weren’t.[15]

Using Freedom of Information laws, BBC Panorama in England found 28 cases where antidepressants were implicated in a murder and 32 where users complained of murderous thoughts. The reports were made to the UK drugs watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.[16]

Researchers also took the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System and found that 25 psychotropic drugs, which included 11 antidepressants, had violence-related effects such as homicide, physical assaults, physical abuse, and homicidal ideation.[17]

CCHR’s report, Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence and Suicide, records 32 cases of violent killings since the FDA warning in 2004, committed by children and young adults ages 12 to 24. Not all public reports specify the name of the psychiatric drug but of those that do, 14 reference antidepressants or drugs to treat depression. The youngest was aged 12 and was taking fluoxetine when he shot and killed a teacher and wounded two classmates.

Strike Three: Addiction and Withdrawal

It is now widely accepted that prolonged use of antidepressants can lead to withdrawal symptoms. A systematic review published in 2019 identified 14 studies that estimated that 27% to 86% (or a weighted average of 56%) of patients who stopped taking antidepressants experienced withdrawal effects. John Read, Ph.D., professor of clinical psychology at the University of East London, stated, “Withdrawal effects aren’t rare, they aren’t short-lived….”[18] Symptoms include headaches, vertigo, anxiety, depression and mood swings, electric shock sensations in the head known as “brain zaps,” problems with movement, lethargy, appetite changes, nightmares, hallucinations, and even homicidal and suicidal ideation.[19]

Jan Eastgate says, “It is astounding and egregious that children and teens are still being prescribed antidepressants that could drive some to commit suicide and murder. Add to this, parents who want to stop antidepressant use in their children can be faced with debilitating withdrawal effects. Consumers should never suddenly stop taking a prescription psychotropic drug but always seek medical assistance to wean off them safely.”

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[1]https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/08/antidepressants-increase-suicide-attempts-in-youth-no-preventative-effect/ citing,  Lagerberg, T., Matthews, A. A., Zhu, N., Fazel, S., Carrero, J. J., & Chang, Z. (2023). Effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment following diagnosis of depression on suicidal behaviour risk: A target trial emulation. Neuropsychopharmacology. Published online July 28, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01676-3

[2] https://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-drugs/people-taking-psychiatric-drugs/

[3] Lagerberg, T., Matthews, A. A., Zhu, N., Fazel, S., Carrero, J. J., & Chang, Z. (2023). Effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment following diagnosis of depression on suicidal behaviour risk: A target trial emulation. Neuropsychopharmacology. Published online July 28, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01676-3

[4] Jacqui Wise, “Antidepressants may double risk of suicide and aggression in children, study finds,” BMJ, 2016, https://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i545

[5] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/04/21/2019282/0/en/Global-Antidepressants-Market-2020-to-2030-COVID-19-Implications-and-Growth.html

[6] Lagerberg, T., Matthews, A. A., Zhu, N., Fazel, S., Carrero, J. J., & Chang, Z. (2023). Effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment following diagnosis of depression on suicidal behaviour risk: A target trial emulation. Neuropsychopharmacology. Published online July 28, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-023-01676-3

[7] Kuan Li, et al., “Risk of Suicidal Behaviors and Antidepressant Exposure Among Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies,” Frontiers Psychiatry, 26 May 2022, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.880496/full

[8] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/04/24/new-study-links-suicides-to-antidepressants-reinforcing-fdas-black-box-warning/

[9] https://cchr.org.au/cchrs-submission-on-child-suicide

[10] https://www.cchrflorida.org/14-year-old-child-commits-suicide-while-on-prozac/, citing Jerome Burne, “Weeks after being put on Prozac, Jake, 14, took his own life – so why aren’t parents being warned about the suicide risk for children on anti-depressants?” The Daily Mail, 21 Mar. 20216, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3503456/Weeks-Prozac-Jake-14-took-life-aren-t-parents-warned-suicide-risk-children-anti-depressants.html

[11] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/05/30/patients-not-the-fda-have-been-leaders-in-exposing-psychiatric-drug-side-effects/

[12] https://www.cchr.org/documentaries/dead-wrong/  

[13] https://www.cchrint.org/2010/11/27/parents-warn-of-possible-psychiatric-drug-dangers/

[14] Peter C Gøtzsche, “Antidepressants and murder: case not closed,” BMJ, 2 Aug. 2017, https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3697/rr-4

[15] https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-antidepressant-ssri-violent-crime-risk-20150915-story.html

[16] Nick McDermott, “Common antidepressants ‘linked to at least 28 murders,’” New York Post, 26 July 2017, https://nypost.com/2017/07/26/common-antidepressants-linked-to-at-least-28-murders/

[17] CCHR International report, Psychiatric Drugs Create Violence and Suicide, 2018,  p. 12, citing: Thomas J. Moore, Joseph Glenmullen, Curt D. Furbert, “Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others,” Public Library of Science ONE, Vol. 5, lss. 12, Dec. 2010, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002271/pdf/pone.0015337.pdf

[18] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/03/20/watchdog-says-studies-prove-antidepressant-withdrawal/ citing, James Davies and John Read, “A systematic review into the incidence, severity and duration of antidepressant withdrawal effects: Are guidelines evidence-based?” Addictive Behaviors, 97 (2019), p. 111, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460318308347?via%3Dihub

[19] https://www.cchrint.org/2023/03/20/watchdog-says-studies-prove-antidepressant-withdrawal/ citing, Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., The Antidepressant Solution: A Step-by-Step Guide to Safely Overcoming Antidepressant Withdrawal, Dependence, and “Addiction” (Free Press, 2006), pp. 7, 36-38