Antidepressants Overprescribed: Dubious Approval Haunts Suicides
On Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, a gorgeous late summer day in Wisconsin, Dale Niggemann came home and saw a note left on the door by Maggie Stern, 55, his best friend and partner for the past five years.
The note said, “Call 911.” First responders arrived at their home and discovered Ms. Stern’s body.
“She said she was in a lot of pain all the time,” said Mr. Niggemann, 57, who was at Ms. Stern’s side as she struggled with the adverse effects of an antidepressant—and painful withdrawal symptoms each time she tried to wean off them.
“She suffered from migraine headaches, tremors, burning pain sensations in her nerves, and dark thoughts about demons and hell.“ Mr. Niggemann said Maggie knew she had everything to live for, but the pain, caused by the effects of the medication, was too intense. ”Her teeth were grinding down, her toes were curled. That is what these antidepressants do.”
Dale Niggemann and Maggie Stern. (Courtesy of Dale Niggemann)
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Seeking Relief Leads to Suffering
About 20 years ago, Ms. Stern was prescribed the SSRI Zoloft (generic name sertraline) after complaining to a doctor of anxiety as she prepared to move from Wisconsin to Alaska to start a new chapter of her life.
Mr. Niggemann said her doctor told her it was a “brain vitamin.” Ms. Stern told him that the doctor did not inform her of possible adverse effects.
“If you read this journal, you will have an idea how hard I worked/tried to survive.
”The Pharma crap killed my body, but not my spirit.
“I’m still me. But the PAIN is too much to endure.
“Please educate/ADVOCATE against All Pharma Drugs, especially vaccines & ‘antidepressants.’”
Although the suicides of people who use antidepressant drugs are often blamed on their depression, a rising chorus of family members and physicians say the drugs themselves can lead to suicide as well as violent behavior, agitation, and depression.
Physician Alleges Drug Studies Misreported Suicide Risks
Dr. Peter C. Gøtzsche, an internal medicine physician based in Denmark and author of the book, “Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial,” is a leading critic of antidepressant drugs. He published an open letter (pdf) in August 2023 to two prominent medical journals, calling for “retraction of three fraudulent trial reports of antidepressants in children and adolescents.”
In the letter, he alleges that “the trial reports seriously underreported suicide attempts, other suicidal events, and precursors to suicide and violence on active drug, and exaggerated the benefits of the drugs substantially.”
Drs. Gøtzsche and Healy said the studies, which included 96 and 219 participants respectively, “appear to have been misreported.” Suicidal events that occurred during the trials were missing from the studies’ publications and reports. “Precursors to suicidality or violence occurred more often on fluoxetine than on placebo,” they said, and, “Patient ratings did not find fluoxetine effective.”
The participants were divided into two groups of 48. One group took fluoxetine, the other group took a placebo.
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration has asked makers of popular antidepressants to add or strengthen suicide-related warnings on their labels as well as the possibility of worsening depression, especially at the beginning of treatment or when the doses are increased or decreased. (Photo Illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Australian researchers, Dr. Wayne D. Hall, then professor of public health policy at University of Queensland, and Dr. Jayne Lucke, senior research fellow at the university, found that recent randomized controlled studies of SSRI antidepressants “increased suicidal ide
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