Research shows that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide.

People given a diagnosis of depression who were taking amitriptyline (Elavil) were 1.7-times more likely to commit suicide over the next five (5) years compared to people given a diagnosis of depression who were taking no antidepressants according to a recent analysis.

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Research shows that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide.

People given a diagnosis of depression who were taking escitalopram (Lexapro) were 2.3-times more likely to commit suicide over the next five (5) years compared to people given a diagnosis of depression who were taking no antidepressants according to a recent analysis.

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Research shows that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide.

People given a diagnosis of depression who were taking citalopram (Celexa) were 2.6-times more likely to commit suicide over the next five (5) years compared to people given a diagnosis of depression who were taking no antidepressants according to a recent analysis.

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Research shows that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide.

People given a diagnosis of depression who were taking fluoxetine (Prozac) were 2.6-times more likely to commit suicide over the next five (5) years compared to people given a diagnosis of depression who were taking no antidepressants according to a recent analysis.

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Fluoxetine (Prozac) and other serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) increase the risk of suicide. The Boston Globe wrote an article talking about this in 2000. The article noted that…

“The company’s internal documents [Eli Lilly and Co.], some dating to the mid-1980s, as well as government applications and patents, indicate that the pharmaceutical giant has known for years that its best-selling drug could cause suicidal reactions in a small but significant number of patients.

“Internal documents show that in 1990, Lilly scientists were pressured by corporate executives to alter records on physician experiences with Prozac [fluoxetine], changing mentions of suicide attempt to “overdose” and suicidal thoughts to “depression.”

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Fluoxetine (Prozac) and other serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) increase the risk of suicide. The Boston Globe wrote an article talking about this in 2000. The article noted that…

“Three years before Prozac [fluoxetine] received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 1987, the German BGA, that country’s FDA equivalent, had such serious reservations about Prozac’s safety that it refused to approve the antidepressant based on Lilly’s studies showing that previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug had a fivefold [5-fold] higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts than those on older antidepressants, and a threefold [3-fold] higher rate than those taking placebos.”

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Fluoxetine (Prozac) and other serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) increase the risk of suicide. The Boston Globe wrote an article talking about this in 2000. The article noted that…

“Lilly’s own figures, in reports made available to the Globe, indicate that 1 in 100 previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug in early clinical trials developed a severe form of anxiety and agitation called akathisia, causing them to attempt or commit suicide during the studies.”

The article later notes that:

“Yet the problems with Prozac were known even before it was introduced to the US market. Figures in a 1984 Lilly document indicated that akathisia, the severe agitation that can lead to suicide, occurs in at least 1 percent of patients, a level considered a “frequent” event, and as such must be disclosed in a company’s product literature and package inserts. But there is no such disclosure in Prozac’s US literature, and it is not clear whether the FDA panel charged with approving Prozac simply overlooked or did not have access to certain critical data of Lilly’s.

“As a result, researchers say that most US doctors do not know to warn patients of the potentially dangerous effect which, according to published literature on the topic, can be alleviated with sedatives or by going off the drug.

“German regulators, who eventually approved Prozac for use in that country, require a warning label about the risk of suicide and suggest the concurrent use of sedatives when necessary.

“Akathisia is listed in Lilly’s US product literature, but as an infrequent event in Prozac users. No mention is made of its potential relationship to suicide.”

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Fluoxetine (Prozac) and other serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s) increase the risk of suicide. The Boston Globe wrote an article talking about this in 2000. The article noted that…

“Using figures on Prozac both from Lilly and independent research, however, Dr. David Healy, an expert on the brain’s serotonin system and director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Wales, estimated that ‘probably 50,000 people have committed suicide on Prozac since its launch, over and above the number who would have done so if left untreated.’”

[And this was as of the year 2000.]

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“The SSRIs are pretty terrible drugs and patients aren’t too happy taking them. But doctors choose to ignore how bad these pills are,” writes Prof. Peter C. Gøtzsche, MD in Chapter 3 Depression of his excellent book Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial.

“When the first best-selling SSRI, fluoxetine [Prozac], appeared in the late 1980s, there was no doubt about it. Senior management in Eli Lilly wanted to shelve it after having considered to market it for eating disorders, but Lilly was in serious financial trouble and had to make it a success,” Prof. Gøtzsche continues.

“Initially, the FDA was sceptical and noted serious flaws in Lilly’s trials.

“An FDA officer wrote in 1984 that patients who didn’t do well after two weeks had their code broken, and if they were on placebo, they were switched to fluoxeine.

“In this way, six weeks of fluoxetine was compared to two weeks on placebo, which is a hopelessly flawed comparison and, with the blinding broken, more bias was introduced.

“It also turned out that 25% of the patients had taken an additional drug, and when the FDA in 1985 removed patients on other drugs from Lilly’s trials, there was no significant effect of fluoxetine.

“By adding benzodiazepines, Lilly broke the rules for its trials but didn’t inform the FDA, and when the FDA later learned about it, the agency permitted it and thereby broke its own rules.

“The public and the doctors were never informed about this ruse.

“The FDA went to extremes to make it look like fluoxetine worked.

“Perhaps the fact that Lilly is an American company played a role.

“Fluoxetine was approved when Bush senior was president and he had been a member of the board of directors of Lilly.

“Vice President Dan Quayle was from Indiana where Lilly’s headquarters are, and he had former Lilly personnel on his own staff and sat on an FDA oversight committee.

“The German drug regulator found fluoxetine ‘totally unsuitable for the treatment of depression,’ and furthermore noted that according to the patients’ self-ratings there was little or no response, in contrast to doctors’ ratings.”

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Overweight patients given 20 mg of Prozac (fluoxetine) per day plus 500 mg of the anti-diabetes drug metformin (Glucophage) given three times per day lost an average of 17.4 pounds after six-and-a-half months compared to 1.1 pounds for those not taking the medication according to a new study from Iran. Read the entire article | Email this article

The antidepressant Serzone (nefazodone) is less likely to cause significant weight gain than Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine) or Zoloft (sertraline) according to according to a new review paper about drugs that cause weight gain. Read the entire article | Email this article

The antidepressant Paxil (paroxetine) is more likely to cause significant weight gain than either Prozac (fluoxetine) or Zoloft (sertraline) according to according to a new review paper about drugs that cause weight gain. Read the entire article | Email this article

Binge eaters who stopped their binge eating with the help of therapy lost an average of 13.6 pounds in five months compared to a weight gain of 1.5 pounds for those who did not stop according to a study from the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Read the entire article | Email this article

Prozac (fluoxetine) can cause considerable weight loss or slight weight gain according to a analysis by the RAND Corporation. Read the entire article | Email this article