The first ever review of trials of antidepressants taken by healthy adults with no signs of a mental disorder has established that antidepressants doubled the harms related to suicide and violence. The analysis, published by researchers from the Nordic Cochrane Centre in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, was undertaken because the harms of antidepressants, including the risk of suicide, are often explained away as if they are disease symptoms or only a problem in children.
Professor Peter Gøtzsche, of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, said: “While it is now generally accepted that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide and violence in children and adolescents, most people believe that these drugs are not dangerous for adults. This is a potentially lethal misconception.”