Antidepressants use among young Australians has soared, so has the suicide rate

Young celebrities like Modern Family star Ariel Winter are very open about their antidepressant use. But new research has found a startling correlation between the drugs and youth suicide rates.

Exclusive: An explosion in the use of antidepressants has been linked to the tragic rise in the number of youth suicides in Australia.

As a result, experts in the field — and the nation’s leading suicide prevention organisations — stand accused of getting the management of depression “horribly wrong”.

Suicides among young Australians have leapt by nearly 40 per cent since 2009 at the same time as the use of antidepressants has surged by 60 per cent in this age group, research shows.

More than 430,000 Australians aged under 27 (up from 149,538 in 2008) are now using antidepressants including over 100,000 under the age of 17 (up from 29,773 in 2008), Health Department figures show.

MORE: Why our use of antidepressants has soared

Experts are questioning whether increased youth suicide is linked to antidepressants. Picture: Antonio Guillem

Doctors do not have to report all adverse medicine events but a search of Australia’s medicine regulator’s data on such events shows there have been 606 suicidal thoughts, 326 suicide attempts and 140 completed suicides associated with antidepressants since 1971.

A new watchdog on mental health policy Psychwatch Australia says the rampant prescribing of antidepressants to young people is in direct defiance of the medical evidence.

In 2004 the US Food and Drug Administration issued it’s highest level of warning that using antidepressants was associated with increased suicidal thinking and behaviour in people aged under 25.

Dr Martin Whitely whose earlier research exposed how the youngest children in classes were the most likely to be given Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnoses and Flinders University researcher Dr Melissa Raven claim doctors are using the medications too widely in the young.

The US medicines regulator put a “black box” warning on antidepressants. Picture Steve Debenport

The researchers argue in a Psychwatch Australia blog that if the rate of under 25 suicide had remained at 2009 levels 699 fewer young Australians would have killed themselves between 2010 and 2017.

“It’s time to ask confronting questions: Have Australia’s leading suicide prevention organisations and experts got it horribly wrong?

“Despite their good intentions, could their advice have contributed to the avoidable deaths of young Australians,” Dr Whitely and Dr Raven said.

Dr Peter Jenkins, a board director, said an association between increased suicides and antidepressant use did not prove causation and the increased suicide rate is multi-factorial.

“My own experience is antidepressants aren’t the problem,” he said.

An Australian study in 2010 reviewed 500 youth suicides and found only 1.6 per cent of the victims had been exposed to antidepressants, he said.

Have Australia’s leading suicide prevention organisations and experts got it horribly wrong?

The explosive claims have emerged in the same week as the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists asked the medical regulator in that country to re-examine its advice on antidepressants.

The number of teenage suicides in England and Wales increased by 67 per cent between 2010 and 2017 as use of antidepressants surged.

The UK college admits health officials have played down the difficulty of withdrawing from antidepressants by insisting side effects were ‘mild’ when some patients experience ‘severe’ side effects which can last months.

Youth mental health service headspace which has 109 outlets around the country said young people are less likely to be prematurely prescribed antidepressants as a first line therapy at its outlets.

Psychiatrist Patrick McGorry says antidepressants should not be used as the first line treatment.

The increase in suicide rates is complex and multi-factorial and more services were needed to address it, headspace said.

Psychiatrist and former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry said the drugs should not be used as the first line treatment and there should be an audit to check whether young people using the drugs were first given counselling and cognitive behavioural help.

University of Sydney’s Professor Ian Hickie said the biggest increase in suicide presentations in emergency departments was among those aged 12 to 16 and most had never been on antidepressants.

However, he said a significant proportion of young people prescribed antidepressants developed agitation and increased suicidal ideation in the first two weeks of using the medications and they must be monitored closely.

Emma Spinks’ daughter committed suicide after being started on antidepressants even though she wasn't depressed. Picture: Tim Hunter

The increase in suicides was due to the rate of mental illness in the population growing, he said.

Emma Spinks, who lost her 34-year-old daughter and the mother of her grandchildren to suicide in 2017, knows first-hand the terrible risks of antidepressants.

Mrs Spinks says her daughter who was suffering from a physical illness — hyperthyroidism and iron overload — was prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft without being warned of side effects.

Her daughter felt nauseous, anxious and uneasy after commencing the medication and stopped using it after a few days.

She had not been warned by her doctor of the possible side effects nor told she should not stop it suddenly and had not been given the consumer medicine information leaflet explaining the risks by her chemist.

Mrs Spinks has opened up about the loss of her daughter to caution others about the dangers of antidepressants. Picture: Tim Hunter

Less than a week after commencing the medication she took her own life.

“If no-one speaks up others will die,” said Mrs Spinks.

“If my daughter had been informed of the possibility of such dangerous side-effects and had received advice as to how to take these drugs as safely as possible, including not to suddenly stop taking them, it would have undoubtedly have saved her life,” Mrs Spinks said.

Mrs Spinks complained to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission about her daughter’s treatment but it found her daughter’s treatment was “appropriate”.

Ariel Winter Picture: Vasquez-Max Lopes/BACKGRID

Modern Family star Ariel Winter’s dramatic weight loss has drawn attention to unwanted side effects of antidepressants.

Winter lost 13kg and revealed on social media it happened after she switched antidepressants.

The US star explained she had tried more than 10 different medications over several years until she finally found one that made her feel good.

“For years I had been on antidepressants that caused me to gain weight that I couldn’t lose no matter what I did,” she responded.

“It was always frustrating for me because I wanted to be able to get fit and feel like the work I was doing was paying off, but it never felt that way. I had accepted it and moved on.”

She has refused to name the medication she is now using and says just because it worked for her doesn’t mean it will work for others.

The most common antidepressant prescribed to young Australians is fluoxetine.

Doctors do not report every side effect but a search of the medical regulators data base shows 22 people have experienced weight increase on the medication and 24 a weight decrease.

The most common side effect reported is nausea followed by anxiety and insomnia.

There have been 57 suicide attempts reported among those using medication since it was introduced.

If you need help after reading this story contact Lifeline on 131114 or Kids Helpline 1800 551 800.