US warnings about the risk of suicide in young people prescribed antidepressant medication may have backfired. [s]BBC News[/s] reports that a study has shown a sudden fall in antidepressant prescriptions and a rise in suicide attempts after media reports of the connection. The team at [b]Harvard Medical School[/b] said the unintended effect was ‘disturbing’. Experts said similar changes had been seen in other countries. One of the researchers, Professor Stephen Soumerai, said: ‘This is an extraordinarily difficult public health problem… These drugs can save lives. The media concentrated more on the relatively small risk than on the significant upside.’
[link url=http://www.bbc.com/news/health-27904749]Full BBC News report[/link]
[link url=http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3596]British Medical Journal abstract[/link]