New report reveals why your child or teen should steer clear of antidepressants

MOST antidepressants don’t work in kids and teens and some lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts — yet tens of thousands of Aussie children are on them.

Tens of thousands of Australian children under the age of 16 are on the medications even though none is approved for this age group. Picture: Supplied.

Most antidepressants don’t work in kids and teenagers and some are so unsafe they lead to suicidal thoughts and attempts, the most comprehensive study of the drugs so far has found.

Tens of thousands of Australian children under the age of 16 are on the medications even though none is approved for this age group.

Oxford University research published in The Lancet today reviewed studies of 14 of the most commonly prescribed anti depressants and found only one, fluoxetine (Prozac) was more effective than a placebo at relieving depression in children and teenagers.

Venlafaxine (Effexor) was linked with an increased risk of engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts compared with a placebo and five other antidepressants, the research found.

News Corp revealed earlier this year that data from the Department Human Services showed more than 26,000 Australian children under the age of 16 are using antidepressants.

This is a 42 per cent increase in the four years to 2013-14.

The DHS figures also found more than 1,000 children aged 2-6 are on the treatments even though none are recommended for these age groups.

In 2013-14, Australian Institute Health and Welfare figures showed 95,425 kids under the age of 15 were using some type of mental health drug.

The Lancet research warns the true effectiveness and suicide risk of antidepressants in teens remains unclear because of the poor design of the trials “and the selective reporting of findings”.

Australian child psychiatry expert Professor Jon Jureidini says there is evidence drug companies have hidden the huge rate of suicides associated with teen antidepressant use.

In September last year he reviewed patient data used in studies that found antidepressant Aropax was safe in teenagers and most suicidal behaviour was not reported.

Despite the studies claiming only three per cent of them had suicidal thoughts and behaviour while on Aropax, he found there were in fact 10.8 per cent who exhibited these signs.

“The effect of misreporting is that antidepressants, possibly including fluoxetine, are likely to be more dangerous and less effective treatments than has been previously recognised, so there is

little reason to think that any antidepressant is better than nothing for young people,” he says in a comment published in The Lancet.

He wants drug companies to open up individual data to researchers so all trials can be re-examined.

Professor Peter Gotszche, a co-founder of the acclaimed Cochrane Collaboration which independently assesses medical studies, claims antidepressants are killing more than 500,000 Americans and Europeans a year.

In a new book he says the drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer because they can lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

In 2004 drug regulators worldwide including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and our medicines regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) issued warnings about the use of these drugs in adolescents after they were linked to suicidal thoughts and actions in

teenagers.

Originally published as New report reveals why your child or teen should steer clear of antidepressants