Antidepressant psych drugs 'likely increase suicides in all ages,' covered up Big Pharma documents reveal

Friday, February 12, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: antidepressants, suicide, Big Pharma

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(NaturalNews) You might think that because they have "anti" in their name that they combat depression and make everything better. But a new review published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that, among all age groups, antidepressant drugs actually increase the risk of aggressive behavior and suicide, especially in users under age 18.

A comprehensive assessment of 70 different trials looking at the safety and effectiveness of the most common antidepressant drugs on the market today, revealed that, despite what drug manufacturers often claim, antidepressants are exceptionally high-risk. Individuals under the age of 18 who take them have a doubled risk of suicide, the actual data shows, though you'd be hard-pressed to find this information in the popular media.

The reason for this is that drug manufacturers have obscured the most incriminating data from regulatory purview, which has resulted in a "serious underestimation of the harms" associated with these popular drugs. Many users and their family members have reported erratic and often violent behavior associated with antidepressants drugs, and evidence continues to mount suggesting that depression sufferers are likely better off just skipping the drugs altogether.

"Antidepressants don't work in children, that is pretty clear," maintains Professor Peter Gotzsche, lead author of the study, from the Nordic Cochrane Centre. "In the randomized trials, children say that they don't work for them, but they increase their risk of suicide."

Commenting on the drug industry's tendency to hide unfavorable data that reflects badly on its chemical potions, Prof. Gotzsche stated publicly that what's taking place in the name of treating depression these days is unsettling, echoing the sentiment of outside experts who have also commented that the findings are "deeply worrying." Prof. Gotzsche also expressed disgust over the complete lack of concern within the drug industry over what these drugs are doing to people, especially children.

"What I get out of this colossal under-reporting of suicides is that [antidepressants] likely increase suicides in all ages," he stated. "It is absolutely horrendous that they have such disregard for human lives."

Antidepressant use skyrocketing, despite lack of long-term safety evidence

Many of the highly-publicized mass shootings that have taken place in recent years have been linked to antidepressant use, which from a purely observational perspective, suggests that such drugs aren't exactly safe. Drug companies tend to downplay these and other horrific side effects, though such information is present in the fine print of drug package inserts.

But many doctors don't disclose these side effects to their patients, and the consequence of this is nothing short of disastrous. Antidepressant use continues to skyrocket among Western countries, with Iceland currently holding the title for the most antidepressant prescriptions of any country in the world. Also up there on the list is Australia, Portugal, Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

"People in the UK are consuming more than four times as many antidepressants as they did two decades ago," says Dr. Joanna Moncrieff from University College London, noting that about four million Britons currently take antidepressant drugs daily – about twice the number compared to 10 years ago.

"Despite this, we still do not fully understand the effects of these drugs," she adds, as quoted by The National Post.

One way that drug companies are obscuring antidepressant-induced suicides is by misreporting them as "emotional instability" or "worsening of depression," as if such behavioral changes would have occurred regardless of whether or not the patient took an antidepressant. Drug giant Eli Lilly is one such offending company that removed drug-induced suicides and attempted suicides in some 90 percent of its trials.

"The analysis suggests that clinical study reports, on which decisions about market authorization are based, are likely to underestimate the extent of drug related harms," added Dr. Tarang Sharma, also of the Nordic Cochrane Centre.

Sources for this article include:

FoodMatters.tv

News.NationalPost.com

IFLScience.com