Alarm Over Antidepressants

Antidepressants may cause an increased risk of suicidal tendencies among patients under the age of 24, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel said yesterday, calling for more stringent warning labels on the medications. Formerly, the FDA had only warned about this risk for those under age 18.

The news comes just nine months after the University Health Services’ director of behavioral health and academic counseling, Paul J. Barreira, wrote in a letter to The Crimson that about 7 percent of Harvard students are prescribed antidepressants, and that roughly 50 percent report feeling depressed at some point during their time here.

Antidepressants for individuals up to the age of 18 are already marked with a “black box,” the strictest warning possible under the current system. If the FDA acts upon its findings, the warning would extend to include patients between the ages of 18 and 24.

The link between the medications and suicidal thoughts and actions is not yet clearly understood, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mental health professionals have called for the link to be more fully explored before any widespread public action against antidepressant prescription is taken.

The actions of the FDA may be a matter of life and death for many college-age individuals across the country, however. FDA psychiatrists note that the 2004 addition of the “black box” warning for individuals under 18 caused a decrease in the number of drug prescriptions, but an overall increase in the number of suicides within that age category.

The National Institute identifies suicide as the third leading cause of death, behind homicide and accidental injury, for individuals aged 15-24, and the American College Health Association reports that as of spring 2005, 11 percent of all female students polled and 9 percent of males reported that they had seriously attempted suicide at least once in the 2003-04 school year. Psychiatrists in the FDA must now decide if the risk of treatment is worth allowing more afflicted individuals to suffer in silence, warned away from receiving the medications they may need.