Antidepressant Warning Preceded Youth Suicide Surge

Rate rises most sharply among teen girls

(NEWSER) - Suicide rates among America's children and young adults surged by 8% between 2003 and 2004, the most significant increase over the past 15 years, a new Centers for Disease Control report shows. The hike coincides with a 22% decrease in antidepressant use, but it could be related to changes in methodology and risk factors, the Psychiatric Times reports. More»

Advocates say change in decades-old policy will improve safety

(NEWSER) - The FAA will change a 70-year-old rule that bars pilots taking medication for depression from operating planes. The new policy, which takes effect Monday, allows pilots who have been successfully treated for a year with the patented or generic versions of Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, or Zoloft to request a waiver permitting them to fly. The relatively new drugs have fewer potentially hazardous side effects than earlier antidepressants, experts say. More»

Little better than placebos in all but the most severe cases

(NEWSER) - Antidepressants are little better than a placebo for all but the most severe cases of depression, according to a new analysis of recent studies. “For patients with very severe depression, the medication did have a potent effect,” the study’s lead author tells WebMD . But the effects “were pretty small or nonexistent for patients with mild or moderate depression or even into the severe range.” More»

(NEWSER) - The number of Americans on antidepressants doubled from 1996 to 2005, a new study finds, but fewer are seeing psychiatrists, and most aren’t using the drugs to affect their mood. As of 2005, the last year for which data were available, 27 million Americans—roughly 10% of the population—were on the drugs. But the majority used them to treat pain, fatigue, and other conditions, USA Today reports. More»

Firm wooed docs to illegally prescribe antidepressant: feds

(NEWSER) - The FDA has approved an antidepressant called Lexapro for kids, just weeks after the Justice Department accused its maker of marketing it illegally—for kids. Prosecutors say Forest Laboratories for years sweet-talked pediatricians into prescribing Lexapro and the similar Celexa by offering spa visits, event tickets, and fishing trips, even though the drugs hadn't been approved for children, Reuters reports. It's unclear what will come of the charges now. More»