Higher Doses Of Antidepressants May Raise Suicide Risk In Teens, Young Adults

[Purveyor]

When prescribing antidepressants for teens and young adults, doctors should not start with high doses of the drugs because it might raise the risk of suicidal behavior, new research suggests.

The study, which was published online April 28 in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found that younger patients who began treatment with higher-than-recommended doses of antidepressants were more than twice as likely to try to harm themselves as those who were initially treated with the same drugs at lower, recommended doses.

"If I were a parent, I definitely wouldn't want my child to start on a higher dose of these drugs," said study author Dr. Matthew Miller, associate director of the Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

The research is likely to inform an ongoing debate in psychiatry -- whether or not it's safe to prescribe antidepressants to children and young adults.

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public warning about the risk of suicide in kids and teens treated with a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

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[intaglio]

1. This has been know for at least 20 years

Which is why when anyone starts a course of SSRIs or SSNRIs or the tetracylic medications they have to be monitored for increases in suicidal ideation but, more importantly, the ability to act on those impulses. The problem seems to be more acute in teens because they have yet to develop the impulse control common in adults.