Paxil Use Examined in Teen Suicide
An Ontario teen named Sara Carlin took her life after a battle with depression. The jurors that examined the case did not explicitly say that they believed the antidepressant Paxil played a role in her suicide, but they did advise the creation of a regulatory body to examine the prescription of such medicines.
Studies have frequently and consistently shown that antidepressants such as Paxil can aggravate or even originate suicidal impulses in young patients. Yet the medicines continue to be described to youth, often for conditions such as minor depressive disorder instead of the major depressive disorder such medicines were intended to combat.
Medicine is a difficult business. The human body didn't evolve to take in all the drugs people keep putting into it. There is always a tradeoff between the beneficial effects and undesirable side effects of any medicine. A doctor elects to make a treatment, hoping the positive effect will outweigh the consequences. For antidepressants, the goal is to give the patient enough chemical balance to be able to function normally in society instead of feeling crippled by uncontrolled feelings of guilt, frustration, impotence and despair.
However, suicidal impulse is not something someone can logically consider an acceptable risk. More than one study has shown that chemical antidepressants can aggravate an existing suicidal impulse in younger patients, and potentially even originate it. How is it, then, that doctors continue to prescribe these medicines for younger and younger patients, sometimes as young as seven years old?
Because the jury didn't have authority to assign blame in the examination of Sara's death, there is no official link between her suicide and her prescription of Paxil for her depression. That should not discourage parents from taking a long, hard look at the nature of the problem and asking their doctors as many questions as possible before putting their children on such a potent medicine.
