Study Confirms Link Between Antidepressants and Suicide

New research confirms recent reports that young people who use antidepressant medications are more likely to attempt suicide.

New research confirms recent reports that young people who use antidepressant medications are more likely to attempt suicide.

Mark Olfson, M.D., and his colleagues at Columbia University in New York City checked for antidepressant use in people who had attempted suicide. They found that severely depressed children and adolescents who had taken certain antidepressants were 50 percent more likely to attempt suicide than similar youths who were not treated with the drugs. The data did not reveal any additional risk for attempted suicide among adults who took antidepressants.

Antidepressants associated with increased suicide risk included tricyclics, venlafaxine (Effexor), and sertraline (Zoloft).

The study was published in the August 2006 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.