Paxil Linked to Violence and Environmental Risk
September 16, 2006 13:29

One study of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of anti-depressants like Paxil suggests the drugs may increase the risk of severe violence and the other study indicates the drugs can have damaging effects on the environment. SSRIs like Paxil... (Read Article)

Antidepressants Like Paxil Over Prescribed for Elderly
September 16, 2006 13:31

In May 2006, the London Free Press reported a study by Toronto's Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences that showed seniors who were prescribed the new SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft were nearly five times more likely to commit suicide during the first month on the drugs than those patients given the older class of medications used to treat depression.

In conducting the study, researchers used Canadian coroners' reports, prescription records, and hospital data, and identified 1,142 suicides among older Canadians, age 66+ from 1992 to 2000, and determined whether they had been prescribed antidepressants in the six months before their deaths.

Among those patients who were, the risk of suicide in the first month for those taking an SSRI was nearly five times higher than for patients on the older antidepressants. The study also found that SSRIs like Paxil and Zoloft were associated with more violent ways of committing suicide, such as using guns or jumping from heights and hanging.

Multi-million dollar pharamaceutical companies have influenced doctors within the Veteran Administration's hospital system to prescribe the newer, more expensive psychiatric drugs like Paxil rather than the older, cheaper, and equally effective medications. (Paxil Suicides)