Tragic: Vibrant 18-year-old sneaks out of party to commit suicide four weeks after starting antidepressants

Friday, June 17, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich
Tags: antidepressants, drugs, suicide

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(NaturalNews) Heidi Blower, an 18-year old teenager from Didsbury, Manchester, came home after a Christmas night out to find the lifeless body of her twin sister hanging in her bedroom with a selection of family photographs alongside a note reading 'sorry xxxx.'

The tragedy took place on December 27 last year after Heidi and her twin sister Heather enjoyed Christmas day with their family before spending Boxing day at a party with some close friends.

According to an inquest into the death of the teenager, Heather had struggled with depression, and although she had told friends she wanted to die, her mood appeared to have improved after she was prescribed antidepressants.

Her friend Shannon Ellis told the hearing in Manchester: "She would tell me that she wanted to die and I would tell her that she would feel better soon and how she felt then, she would not always feel."

"On Boxing Day she told me she wanted to die but that she was glad that she pulled herself out of it and that she loved us and would not want to leave us. She said she was glad she's got us all."

"That night she must have had about three or four cans of beer in the house and about two pints of beer when we went out but she would sneak a vodka and Coke because Heidi didn't like her drinking it."

According to her twin sister and close friends, Heather was having a great time. Nonetheless, Heather persuaded her friends and sister she wanted to go home to bed. Because Heather was rarely left alone, Miss Ellis left the party with her, but at Heather's request they went their separate ways when they got back to her home, giving her the opportunity to commit suicide.

"She had a lovely Christmas Day she was so happy and in the days running up she was fine," Miss O'Donnell, Heather's mother said.

"I think she intended to do it and didn't want me to find her. I think she thought of it as an opportunity, she could do it because we never left her alone. That was the only time she was alone," she added.

Suicidal thoughts not uncommon in teenagers who take antidepressants

A recent review published in the British Medical Journal showed that antidepressants may double the risk of suicide and aggression in children.

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

While the finding that children and young adolescents, especially girls, taking antidepressants are more likely to have suicidal thoughts has been known for decades, antidepressants are still the preferred course of treatment for moderate to severe depression.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that antidepressants are no more effective than placebos for mild to severely depressed patients. In fact, cognitive therapy has been shown to reduce suicide attempts by as much as half.

Despite the bare facts, drug manufacturers deliberately under-report the harmful effects, making it hard to calculate the actual effects of antidepressants.

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

Sources for this article include:
http://www.mirror.co.uk
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i545
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov