Anti-depressants 'lift suicide rates'

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Anti-depressants can cause worse long-term health effects, and may have an adverse effect on suicide rates in youth, says an award-winning American medical journalist in Nelson this week.

Robert Whitaker, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of several books, will be speaking in Nelson tomorrow night on the effects of psychiatric drugs on the brain and how anti-depressant medications shape long-term health outcomes.

He will discuss his research in the United States which found the increased prescribing of psychiatric drugs to youth led to a sharp rise in the numbers diagnosed with bipolar disorder and the numbers on sickness benefits.

After examining data from several countries, Whitaker also found increased prescribing of anti-depressants to adults correlated with a sharp increase in disability rates due to depression and anxiety.

Clinical trials had shown anti-depressants may increase the suicide risk in youth, he said. He did not have data on whether increased rates of prescribing was linked to suicide rates at a national level.

However, he believed several long-term consequences came from medicating children at a young age.

"The first is that you are sending a message to that child that something is wrong with his or her brain, and that is a very negative message to send."

These drugs all changed the brain in different ways, and over the long term their use was linked with physical, cognitive and social problems, he said. He did not know of any evidence showing long-term benefits from medicating children.

A 2006 New Zealand mentalhealth survey showed anxiety, mood and substance disorders were the most common form of mental illness. These disorders were most prevalent in 16 to 24 year olds, and young women in particular.

Whitaker said there were a number of reasons why mental health conditions were so prominent in youth, which included the social stresses of growing up today. However, it was also a story of commerce, he said.

After second-generation anti-depressants such as Prozac were brought to the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the makers constantly looked to expand the market for their drugs, he said.

"The adult market appeared saturated, and so they began eying children and teenagers. Prior to this, few children and youth were seen as suffering from major depression, and so few were prescribed anti-depressants."

There was a long-term effect of those medications on youth.

"You see many become worse and end up with a more severe diagnosis, like bipolar illness."

Whitaker's book, Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, had been attacked by some health professionals, but many had responded in a thoughtful way.

The talk, a fundraiser for suicide-prevention group Casper, is from 7pm to 9pm at Nick Smith's public meeting room, 544 Waimea Rd. Tickets are $15 for unwaged, $20 for waged and self-employed. Contact (03) 525 7888.

- © Fairfax NZ News