Right after drugs to lower cholesterol, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed medications in 2011, with about 254 million prescriptions resulting in nearly $10 billion in costs.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a non-profit mental health watchdog organization dedicated to the eradication of abuses committed under the guise of mental health, is calling for an investigation into the link between suicides and antidepressants in honor of National Suicide Prevention Month.
In the Fall of 2004, the FDA issued their now famous warning that children and teenagers who were taking antidepressants might have increased suicidal thoughts and behavior. The very next year, the FDA included young people up to age 25 in this warning.
This warning was issued because studies proved that children and teenagers who take antidepressants were nearly twice as likely to think about, actually attempt or in some tragic cases commit suicide.[1]
“The suicide rate is increasing and so are the number of prescriptions being written for antidepressants every year,” stated Diane Stein, President of CCHR Florida. “Currently one in ten people ages 12 and older are taking an antidepressant in the United States.”
In 2011, antidepressants were the second most commonly prescribed medications, right after drugs to lower cholesterol, with about 254 million prescriptions resulting in nearly $10 billion in costs.[2]
September is recognized as National Suicide Prevention Month and according to the Florida Suicide Prevention Coalition; suicide is the third leading cause of death for teenagers in Florida.[3] However, while mental health organizations are promoting awareness of this issue they are failing to make known the connection between suicide and antidepressants.
Whether an antidepressant is approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or not is based on how the drug differs from a placebo in trials and for the two decades prior to 2011, placebo effects have increased markedly in trials of psychiatric medications.[4] Yet despite the proven placebo effects, antidepressant use continues to rise.
“This is not just a problem in the United States,” said Diane Stein. “The most recent prescription drug figures for the United Kingdom show an alarming increase in antidepressant prescriptions issued in 2014, one for every man, woman and child in the country.”
Prescription drugs have become an epidemic in America and in other parts of the world. This is the reason CCHR is calling for an investigation into why specifically antidepressant prescriptions continue to rise right along side suicide rates and yet these dangerous drugs are still being prescribed.[5]
The CCHR National Suicide Prevention Month Open House runs through the end of September from 10am until 10pm daily. To learn more, please call 727-442-8820 or visit www.cchrflorida.org.
About CCHR:
Initially established by the Church of Scientology and renowned psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz in 1969, CCHR’s mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections.
It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’”
After discovering that 55 percent of foster children in Florida had been prescribed powerful mind-altering psychotropic drugs, CCHR documented the abuse to the health department, which initiated changes that led to a 75 percent reduction in prescriptions for children under six.
Considered a potentially abusive, marketing tool for psychiatrists, CCHR Florida led the charge that got “Teen Screen”, mental health screening of school children, banned from Pinellas County schools in 2005. For more information visit, www.cchrflorida.org
SOURCES:
[1] center4research.org/child-teen-health/suicide/do-anti-depressants-increase-suicide-attempts/
[2] IMS Health National Prescription Audit PLUS
[3] floridasuicideprevention.org/the_facts.htm
[4] nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2011/antidepressants-a-complicated-picture.shtml#_edn2
[5] drugwatch.com/2015/07/29/drug-abuse-in-america/
cepuk.org/2015/04/10/latest-prescription-data-shows-consumption-psychiatric-drugs-continues-soar/
Pratt L, Brody DJ, Gu Q. Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005-2008. NCHS Data Brief. No 76. October 2011
