Does the use of anti-depressants increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among young adults?

It can do.
The thing is, in many ways we don't fully understand the causes of depression, and because of the variances between sufferers it can be very difficult to find a medication that suits the eprson exactly. Most sufferers, particularly teenagers will find themselves tried out with at least three forms of medication, often moving back and forth between them. A major problem is that because different people are affected by the different drugs in different ways, any side effects are difficult to monitor, particularly because depression like any mental disorder can become a bit of a wild card. It is virtually impossible to predict any one person's reaction to a specific drug.

One of the biggest controversies about use of anti-depressants causing suicidal thoughts in teenagers surrounded the drug Seroxat (also known as Paroxetine), which was widely used (and in some cases still is) to treat teenagers for bulimia, BDD and clinical depression during the mid to late nineties. It is still commonly used in adults.
You can read a bit about it on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paroxetine

An alarm was raised when it was pointed out that statistics showed a higher rate of suicide amongst teenagers taking the drug to those with comparable symptoms who were not (either drug free or taking other medication). It was also pointed out that the drug could cause severe withdrawal symptoms- including suicidal thoughts- when the user attempted to stop using it, even where suicide had not previously been a concern.

Seroxat is a drug I have some personal experience with- I used it on and off for around five years between the age of fifteen and twenty, and I certainly found that it was a much more unpleasant experience than prozac or other anti-depressants. The side-effects are intense, and having spoken with other users, seem to be fairly constant- the first thing you notice is a foggy distant feeling, which helps to create a sense of unreality. This is partly the job the drug is designed to do, to mute feeling, the problem is that the real world becomes tiny and far away, the thoughts in your head become large by comparison. Suicidal thoughts are easily fostered in such a state. Whilst with a good counsellor or therapist this isn't such a problem, the recent culture of giving people a pill and leaving them to it could potentially be very dangerous with this particularly drug. I also experienced a great difficulty distinguishing reality from unreality- Seroxat users tend to have vivid dreams, and thoughts that have an almost hallucination like quality to them. Memories can get mixed up and quite often a single innocuous comment can become quite damning, because you are unable to seperate what was really said from what was only in your head. If users have a tendency towards self-harm this often increases. I have known many people who have made suicide attempts shortly after being taken off the drug. My personal experience was that I found I was quite prone to being particularly destructive or even violent- particularly when it was combined with alcohol- and quite often suffered complete memory black outs. It was the only drug I ever used that made me feel like I was truly losing it.

I've probably wandered slightly off the point of the question there, but I just thought that this particularly drug was probably worth a mention, particularly as its still in use in many places.


www.seroxatusergroup.org.uk

I am on anti-depressants for Fibromyalgia. The first time I was on them it was fine. When I went off of them and then back on them, I did get suicidal thoughts. I kept having this overwhelming urge to drive my car onto the railroad tracks when the train was coming. Thankfully, because I am so stubborn and pig-headed, I was able to resist these urges and eventually they subsided. Don't know if this is common or normal. I am not young.

The brouhaha over suicide/suicidal thoughts is just that. Lots of newspaper copy got sold because of it- the ''drive-by-media" does unconscionable disservice for the sake of selling newspapers sometimes-

Although suicide ideas as a cardinal symptom of depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other major mental diagnoses, it was found that suicidal thoughts increased to 2% vs. the one per cent that is usually reported in the scientific literature...

ANY suicide is too many, but the fear and anxiety produced by the media far outweighs the miniscule rise in rate of suicidal thoughts...

some anti depressents can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts but these are always mentioned in the leaflets along with other side effects. most of the side effects including suicidal thoughts will go after the first few weeks but if they worry you you should always speak to your doctor first and they will give you a medication you feel ok with :0)

While the desired affect is to prevent suicidal thoughts, it seems many prescription drug users feel an increase in suicidal thoughts, partly due to the lethargic, useless feeling they get from the drugs

Antidepressant use appears to be associated with a modest increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors among children and teens, but the drugs may or may not increase actual suicide risk.

Researchers with the FDA analyzed 24 clinical trials involving 4,582 pediatric patients taking one of nine antidepressant medications for depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric disorders.

None of the children or teens who participated in the studies actually committed suicide. But FDA investigators concluded that the patients taking active antidepressants were roughly twice as likely as patients taking inactive placebo pills to experience suicidal thoughts or attempt suicide.