Tammy Bruce: Irony of the Day: FDA Says All Anti-Depressants Give Rise to Suicide Risk

Irony of the Day: FDA Says All Anti-Depressants Give Rise to Suicide Risk

Finally, the FDA is demanding that all so-called anti-depressant medication carry a label that warns of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and actions when taken by those 24 years old and younger.

But they also want the label to assure those older than 24 that there's no "evidence" that you will want to kill yourself. Whew, doesn't that make you feel confident?

I have a solution: instead of taking a drug that is supposed to make you happy but instead makes you want to die, how about going to live on a dude ranch or a farm and working it out? There is one message we can take from mankind being so arrogant that it thinks it can create a pill that will make you happy but will do the opposite--it's called "failure." There are no shortcuts for certain things in life, like happiness and love. These are things that are informed by our soul and the moment you think taking a pill will give them to you is the moment you've given up on yourself.

Here's some of the coverage. Use the link as well for the list of the drugs affected, but know that it applies to all anti-depressants, so if you're on one, the warning is for you.

Change Suicide Warning On Antidepressants FDA Asks Drug Makers

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked makers of all antidepressant drugs to change the existing "black box" labels on their products to warn about increased risk of suicidality (suicidal thinking and behaviour) among young adults aged 18 to 24 in the first few weeks of treatment.

The FDA has also asked the drug companies to revise the existing warning to show there is no evidence this risk exists for adults over 24, and indeed for those aged 65 and older the scientific data suggests the suicidality risk is decreased.

Another interesting spin is the suggestion by this story that when it became evident that these drugs increased suicide, prescriptions fell, and suicide increased. In other words, when people stopped taking the meds in general, they also started to kill themselves. Those invested in the culture of drug taking note that taking the meds then is more important than not taking the drug. But what's not discussed or assessed is what the people who went off the drug did to address their depression. In our drug-laden society the option is pill or no pill, with no alternative. If people went off the drug and then did something to address their emotional state, like moving to another city, changing jobs, more exercise, and psychotherapy, depression would inevitably lessen. Do nothing, and of course, the problem would remain or get worse.

The bottom line, as it is with most things these days, is money. There is no money in someone being prescribed to go work at a dude ranch for three months, or move out of the city, or get out of the bad relationship, or stop drinking. Nope, money is to be made with prescription drugs. We had better work to reverse this trend or forget the terrorists, we'll destroy ourselves from within. Literally.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) said:

"The FDA's new labeling acknowledges, for the first time, that untreated depression puts people at risk for suicide."

They said studies showed that the old label issued in 2004 was associated with a steep drop in use of antidepressants and was followed by an increase in the rate of suicide "reversing a decade-long decline in suicide deaths in the United States".

The FDA said the emphasis on the new labels should be that depression and other serious psychiatric illnesses are themselves the most important causes of suicide.

Boy, talk about spin. So not only is the FDA allowing drugs to stay on the market that could make you want to kill yourself, they want labeling to assure you it's still generally okay to take them because if you don't you're even more likely to kill yourself.
Sheesh.

Comments

Can I offer (sort of) a CRUNCHY CON suggestion to cure depression?

UNPLUG YOUR FREAKING CABLE.

TUNE OUT OF POP CULTURE.

Stop feeding your brain the SWILL that tells you that you are ...too fat, too broke, too dumb, too ugly....blahblahblaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Don't allow anyone into your home (on the TV or in a RAG magazine>> yes, EEEEven Martha Stewart) that you would not ask to sit down at your table and converse with your children at dinner.

So let's review, shall we:

ROSIE O'DONNELL >>> notsomuch.
TOWN & COUNTRY >>>> notsomuch
RAP MUSIC >>>>> notsomuch

SEE HOW EASY THAT WAS.

I now pronounce you cured.

Posted by: seejanemom at May 3, 2007 10:54 AM

I think our culture largely leads people to expect an unattainable level of happiness. It's jarring to grow up and realize life is a bigger struggle than we were told. Then we get depressed and/or vent our anger at innocents. Yes, as Tammy says, pills are usually not the answer. But pills are what the system is designed to deliver, in an era of absent parents and a social structure that bashes Boy Scouts and encourages nihilism. (Don't get me wrong; I'm sure pills have their place. But when we're giving Ritalin to half our kids, something has gone horrifically awry.)

To the extent that pills "cause" suicide, I've assumed that they render a depressed, suicidal personal slightly more functional, so he arises from his catatonic funk long enough to do himself in.

Posted by: Talkin Horse at May 3, 2007 01:07 PM

There are no shortcuts for certain things in life, like happiness and love. These are things that are informed by our soul and the moment you think taking a pill will give them to you is the moment you've given up on yourself.
Ever thought about being a counselor, Tammy? That's darn brilliant stuff.

Posted by: FozzieBear at May 3, 2007 06:48 PM

That's insane that the FDA is just now finding this out. I went on a very well known antidepressant in 1996 prescribed to me by a psychiatrist who talked to me for all of 10 minutes. I was 27. I was only on it for 3 months but I thought about killing myself constantly (and I was perfectly calm while contemplating it) and I also thought about killing other people, and it felt just as normal to me as deciding what I was going to wear in the morning.

All that plotting and fantasizing is creepy and alarming to me now, of course, but on the drugs it felt completely normal. Luckily I had to stop taking the medication because it caused me to have constant trembling in my legs and arms (and being a typist, I couldn't have my hands shaking all the time). When I told the psychiatrist about the tremors, she actually asked me what I would rather be, shaky or depressed! But I quit taking them, got out of a bad relationship and also moved (like your post suggests).

Posted by: squeaky79 at May 3, 2007 09:58 PM

Fozzie-

I second that emotion. :)

Posted by: Kimj7157 at May 3, 2007 10:23 PM

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Irony of the Day: FDA Says All Anti-Depressants Give Rise to Suicide Risk

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