Why Do Antidepressants Have Warning Labels About Suicidal Thoughts?

label may cause suicidal thoughts. It seems counterintuitive that medications used to treat depression, which can lead to suicide, could possibly have this side effect and still be considered a viable treatment. To understand the reasons that these medications are nonetheless prescribed, and the reasons why they need these labels in the first place, let's talk about how antidepressants work. For the article this episode is based on How Stuff Works.

Spoke via email with licensed clinical psychologist doctor David Goodot with psycholob Psychology Center. He explained the name antidepressants is kind of a marketing term that makes the problem of suicidality less understandable. Antidepressant medications do not actually reduce depression. They simply increase levels of certain neurotransmitters of forty years ago, a researchers imagined that depression was caused by a shortage

of those neurotransmitters. However, research has not supported that hypothesis at all. The brain is much more complicated than that. Indeed, our brain seem to be constantly flipping the script. Reactions to psychological medications and treatments can vary widely from person to person, and the outcomes aren't always what you'd expect. How Stuff Works also spoke with Lewis Lave's Web, a psychotherapist in Austin, Texas whose name I hope I'm not butchering.

I did try to look it up. He said, as depression lifts, it can make a person feel more motivated. The vast majority of the time, this is a good thing. It means they're motivated to engage in activities that make their life happy and meaningful. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case, and due to mechanisms we have yet to comprehend, a small minority of patients find the motivation not to play, but to make a suicide plan. How Stuff Works also

spoke with a patient who's experienced this phenomenon. A blogger Esther Louise has used antidepressants to successfully manage her lifelong battle with depression and anxiety, but the benefits haven't come without some pitfalls. She said, I've been through the process of starting the SSRIs on three occasions now, and each time I've found it to be very difficult. When starting the medication, I tend to experience an increase in the severity of my symptoms for a short time before they

slowly start to get better. This means that for about a week after starting the antidepressants, I will feel very depressed and experience suicidal thoughts, even if I had not been suffering with them before starting the medication. She says she still finds this experience to be very alarming, even though she's aware of what's going on. She explained, during this time, I feel very out of character, more impulsive, and not as stable. It can be incredibly scary to

feel like you're out of control in this way. However, I have to remind myself that it is only temporary and these feelings will go away soon. In my case, they always have. This reaction probably occurs because it takes time for antidepressants to really make a difference in your brain function. A goodo explained, Oh, when you take prozac, your serotonin levels will increase within about a half hour, but therapeutic benefits are not expected for at least two weeks.

Oh why because something else has to happen in the brain and body in response to the elevated neurotransmitter levels. And frankly, no one in the world knows exactly what that something is. Our bodies and brains are complicated. Despite the risk, antidepressant use seems to be a case of the good outweighing the bad. Typically, antidepressants do have a protective effect against suicide. A death by suicide has been shown to be more common in patients not taking an

antidepressant versus patients who are. It also appears that the risk of suicidal thoughts is far greater in children and adolescents taking these medications than in those over the age of twenty five. A one review published in two thousand and three of twenty three clinical trials using SSRIs in children adolescents with depression found that there was a four percent risk for suicidal thoughts when using SSRIs versus a

two percent risk when on a placebo. Although no one died by suicide during these trials, The Food and Drug Administration determined that it was appropriate to add a warning that antidepressants may increase suicidal thoughts to the drug's labels. A Lavee's Web said in number, it's only a small percentage, but to parents of any child lost suicide due to antidepressants,

the problem is enormous and inconceivable. Since awareness of this issue has risen, prescribing doctors have added risk of suicidal thoughts to their patient education checklist. How stuff Works also spoke with a therapist and author by the name of Lauren Cook. She said providing the patient with information about this process is crucial so that they too can look for signs. By normalizing conversation around suicide, a patient is that much more inclined to share if they are thinking

about hurting themselves. Today's episode is based on the article why do antidepressants have warnings about suicidal thoughts? On HowStuffWorks dot Com? Written by Leo Hoyt. Brain Stuff is a production of by Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Young. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.