Antidepressants and the Risk of Suicide

The New England Journal of Medicine has just released an article about antidepressants and suicide entitled: "Expanding the Black Box-Depression, Antideppresants and the Risk of Suicide" by Richard A. Friedman, M.D., and Andrew C. Leon, Ph.D.

On May 2, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that all antidepressant medications carry an expanded black-box warning incorporating information about an increased risk of suicidal symptoms in young adults 18 to 24 years of age. Also included on the label is, "depression and other serious psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide," which implies that suicidal thinking, feeling, and behavior are core symptoms of the disease and if you do not take the medication, there are risks.

This new label may confuse depressed patients and their families and frighten physicians from prescribing medication to their patients. However, the label does bring into light the issue of untreated depression and the importance of recognizing depression and following a patient's progress especially in the beginning of treatment.

To read the full article, click here