However, there have been reports of deaths, suicide and violence by people taking these drugs. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have warned of antidepressants leading to suicide among young adults aged 18-24 years.
The FDA recommend monitoring for all patients taking antidepressants to check for worsening of symptoms, suicidal tendencies and any unusual changes in behavior.
the risk of suicide and aggression was doubled. Results also showed that previous trials had failed to report adverse effects and were marred by design faults. Comparisons between clinical study results and data from listings or patient narratives showed that deaths and suicide had been wrongly classified for people using antidepressants.
One pharmaceutical company misreported four deaths in favor of the antidepressant, and over 50% of suicidal incidents were put down to "emotional lability" or "worsening of depression."
Eli Lilly recorded most of the deaths that occurred, but they failed to note 90% of the attempted suicides. Information on other outcomes was lacking.
The authors describe these results as "even more unreliable than we previously suspected."
They explain that it is difficult to assess the true risk of serious incidences arising from antidepressant use because events are relatively rare, and poor design and reporting of the trials makes accurate estimations difficult.
The researchers suggest treating depression in children with exercise or psychotherapy, where possible. They also they call for "hidden information" from trial reports to be identified to create a more accurate reflection of the good and bad effects of drugs.
One limitation of the study is that reports and listings were not available for all trials and all antidepressants.