Antidepressants Raise Teen Suicide Risk?

Feb. 2 -- Renewed concerns about the safety of the antidepressants have prompted the Food and Drug Administration to convene hearings today to determine whether antidepressants like Paxil and Zoloft are unsafe for use in children under 18.

Last summer, the British drug authorities announced findings of an associated risk of increased suicidal behavior. On trial is a class of drugs called specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which include Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. Currently only Prozac is approved by the FDA for use in children.

For parents whose children have had terrible experiences while taking antidepressants, the FDA hearing is long overdue.

Teenager Corey Baadgaard was taking Effexor when he walked into his honors English class with a rifle and held his classmates hostage. One of the antidepressant's actions is to increase serotonin like Prozac and Paxil. "I've never been in a fight before, never done anything like that, never wanted to hurt somebody," Corey told World News Tonight correspondent Lisa Stark.

But doctors who have seen the drugs work "miracles" in children worry one of their best weapons for treating depression in kids might be taken away without any hard science to support a ban.

"The British decision [to ban all SSRIs but Prozac for use in children] was not based on science," says adolescent psychiatrist Chris Okiishi of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. "These are the only effective medications we have for children."

Benefits Outweigh Risks?

Among the evidence the FDA will consider is a report from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, or ACNP, which convened a task force in September 2003 to study the data linking antidepressants to suicide in teenagers.

The ACNP examined a total of 15 clinical trials of SSRI — totaling more than 2,000 kids and teens — including those reviewed in Great Britain last year. It concluded there is no reliable evidence linking antidepressants to increased suicide in teenagers.