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"Antidepressants double the occurrence of events in adult healthy volunteers that can lead to suicide and violence," the authors write. "We consider it likely that antidepressants increase suicides at all ages."
The connection between antidepressants and violence and suicidality has been a subject of a great deal of debate in the research literature. Previous studies suggest that antidepressants can cause an extreme state called "akathisia," characterized by feelings of extreme agitation, restlessness, and thoughts of violence and suicidality. It is generally accepted that there is an increased risk for suicidality for children, teens, and young adults when taking antidepressants and in 2007 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added a black box warning for teenagers.
Similarly, last year, researchers in Sweden published a study finding that individuals were more likely to commit a violent crime when taking an antidepressant compared to when they were not. These results and others have often been criticized or dismissed by those who point out that anxiety and suicidality are often symptoms associated with the conditions being treated. To explore this explanation, this study attempts to disentangle the symptoms from side-effects by looking only at the drug effects on healthy study volunteers who showed no signs of 'mental disorder' prior to drug exposure.
Comment: This is only the tip of the iceberg. To get a better idea, listen to our radio show: Big Pharma Karma - Magic bullets and the astonishing rise of mental illness