4 ms·

As far as I'm aware, the currently prevailing theory is that many deeply depressed people may be be having suicidal thoughts, but their depression is also so st

As far as I'm aware, the currently prevailing theory is that many deeply depressed people may be be having suicidal thoughts, but their depression is also so strong that they don't have the energy and/or motivation to actually go through with it. Apathy is winning. As the drugs start to lift you out of the hole of apathy, you suddenly start to have more energy and motivation, but you're still depressed. So you still are suicidal but now you have the ability to go through with it.

tcj_phx 10y ago
This sounds like an apologist's explanation for an inconvenient truth. Sounds reasonable, but falls apart when confronted with actual data. (Edit: I'm sure you were paraphrasing what you'd read somewhere.) Here's a quote from the Boston Globe's 5/7/2000 article: >> Three years before Prozac received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 1987, the German BGA, that country’s FDA equivalent, had such serious reservations about Prozac’s safety that it refused to approve the antidepressant based on Lilly’s studies showing that previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug had a fivefold higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts than those on older antidepressants, and a threefold higher rate than those taking placebos. >> Lilly’s own figures, in reports made available to the Globe, indicate that 1 in 100 previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug in early clinical trials developed a severe form of anxiety and agitation called akathisia, causing them to attempt or commit suicide during the studies. -- http://ahrp.org/prozac-revisited-concerns-about-suicides-surface-boston-globe/ http://ahrp.org/prozac-revisited-concerns-about-suicides-sur... (I don't know anything about this site, but I've read the quote elsewhere so I'm sure it's a true copy of what the Globe actually printed).
- cowpewter 10y ago
  Oh yeah, it was definitely just something I've heard a bunch of times, and not something I'd personally looked up the research on. Thank you for the links.
rhizome 10y ago
I think you're combining Prozac's increased-suicide effect and the well-known danger zone of depression recovery: https://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc?t=480 https://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc?t=480 I suppose there could be something in Prozac being an engine of recovery without support (or suicide watch), essentially launching people into the danger zone, but I don't know.

tcj_phx 10y ago

This sounds like an apologist's explanation for an inconvenient truth. Sounds reasonable, but falls apart when confronted with actual data. (Edit: I'm sure you were paraphrasing what you'd read somewhere.) Here's a quote from the Boston Globe's 5/7/2000 article: >> Three years before Prozac received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in late 1987, the German BGA, that country’s FDA equivalent, had such serious reservations about Prozac’s safety that it refused to approve the antidepressant based on Lilly’s studies showing that previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug had a fivefold higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts than those on older antidepressants, and a threefold higher rate than those taking placebos. >> Lilly’s own figures, in reports made available to the Globe, indicate that 1 in 100 previously nonsuicidal patients who took the drug in early clinical trials developed a severe form of anxiety and agitation called akathisia, causing them to attempt or commit suicide during the studies. -- http://ahrp.org/prozac-revisited-concerns-about-suicides-surface-boston-globe/ http://ahrp.org/prozac-revisited-concerns-about-suicides-sur... (I don't know anything about this site, but I've read the quote elsewhere so I'm sure it's a true copy of what the Globe actually printed).

cowpewter 10y ago
Oh yeah, it was definitely just something I've heard a bunch of times, and not something I'd personally looked up the research on. Thank you for the links.

rhizome 10y ago

I think you're combining Prozac's increased-suicide effect and the well-known danger zone of depression recovery: https://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc?t=480 https://youtu.be/NOAgplgTxfc?t=480 I suppose there could be something in Prozac being an engine of recovery without support (or suicide watch), essentially launching people into the danger zone, but I don't know.