Originally Posted by
shutterbug 
QU31... i've yet to read any data from studies (or even from doctors or patients relaying their own opionins) about suicide becoming a greater risk for some who are just starting on anti-d's. it is simply not true. And such a statement can scare people into not seeking proper treatment for their depressions....especially if they are already dealing with suicidal thoughts and issues.
i know of NO anti-d that makes a person become more suicidal. period.
True. The unfortunate result of the black box warnings on the SSRIs was an INCREASE in total suicide attempts and suicides during the following year, NOT a decrease....mainly attributed to people avoiding the use of SSRIs.
From what I remember, the original research found that suicidal IDEATIONS increased (2x), though there was no increase in actual suicide attempts. There were some issues with how each study classified ideations, behavior, suicide risk, etc; the researchers did their best to quantify the different categories.
*edit*
I think this is the study, I'm still picking through it, it has been a couple of years since I've read it. It doesn't pull any punches at 130 pages, but for those curious, here is the study:
http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/...ads-Review.pdf
Outcome 3 (definitive suicidal behavior/ideation) was the part that caused all of the uproar. It is talked about frequently throughout the study, since it speaks to definitive risk. This is where that ~2x number comes in (1.78x average increase)
Here are some of the most important conclusions they found in their study
".....among the events considered representative of suicidality in these 25 pediatric antidepressant trials, there were no completed suicides."
The news reports ignored this fact.
"No individual trial showed a statistically significant signal for suicidality. However, many had a RR of 2 or more and some of the overall estimates, across various trial groupings, were statistically significant."
In English, there was a meaningful finding that there was an average increase of suicidal ideations 1.78x, compared to the placebo group, though that increase did not result in more suicide attempts.
"Most of the events occurred in trials with the highest proportion of patients with a history of suicide attempt or ideation at baseline."
The ones with the most history of attempts, reported the most issues. They also were the most likely to have issues once they stopped treatment. This reiterates the importance of med compliance, and the real suicide risks for those most in need.
-p