Antidepressants Can Cause Varying Suicidal Thoughts
According to a study published in BMC Medicine, men who take the antidepressant nortriptyline (Aventyl) are nearly 10 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who use the antidepressant escitalopram (Lexapro, Cipralex).
The study included 811 people with moderate to severe depression. NorthShore Unviersity HealthSystem’s Health News section says that although the study found an overall reduction in suicidal thoughts, men who took nortriptyline were found to have a 9.8-fold increase in emerging suicidal thoughts and a 2.4-fold increase in worsening suicidal thoughts, compared with those who took escitalopram.
“Our findings that treatment-emerging and worsening suicidal thoughts may also be associated with psychomotor activation triggered by antidepressants need to be investigated in future studies,” the study team’s leader, Dr. Nader Perroud, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said.
