Abstract

Antidepressants a Problem? We're Shocked!

The author comments on the U.S. FDA's warning that antidepressants may cause suicidal impulses in some patients, and on the re-release of the Monty Python film, "The Life of Brian." Six years after Kip Kinkel, dosed up with Prozac, killed his parents and two students at Thurston High, in Oregon, well over a decade after naysayers, including Dr. Peter Breggin, the Scientologists and this columnist, raised the alarm about links between antidepressants and violence, the FDA has issued a warning that ten antidepressants can cause deeper depression and, for gosh sakes, even agitation, mania and other forms of violent behavior, even SUICIDE! Since the FDA cocks a nervous eye at such important constituencies as the pharmaceutical industry and its political reps in the White House and Congress, it is cautious about overhasty and tasteless prying into cause and effect. The FDA says it isn't yet clear whether antidepressants contribute to the emergence of suicidal tendencies. So there'll be a pause, during which time the FDA can fend off concerns with comforting talk about "thoroughgoing reviews" and the drug companies can continue to mine their usual extortionate markups from the antidepressants, for which 213 million prescriptions were issued in the United States in 2003. I don't see any way the pharmaceutical antidepressants will take a serious long-term hit from the FDA warning and impending review. It's great to see that "The Life of Brian" is being reissued, after Mel Gibson showed there's still a buck to be made out of the crucifixion.