Restrictions on teenagers’ use of antidepressants have had no measurable impact on suicide rates, a study says.
In 2003, regulators warned against use of the drugs in the under-18s after concerns from clinical trials that some patients may become suicidal. Bristol university analysis of suicide rates among 15 to 19-year-olds in 22 countries from 1990 to 2006 found no change in the wake of the restrictions. Antidepressant use in young people in the UK fell by 50% after the warnings. The expert committee put together to assess the safety of the drugs said at the time of the restrictions that the harmful effects of most SSRI antidepressants outweighed the benefits in young people. Only fluoxetine (Prozac) should be used and only then in severe cases, the committee said. Some mental health experts have raised concerns that limits on prescribing antidepressants may have led to increased levels of untreated depression.
‘A big red herring’