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Maternal and infant genetic variants, maternal periconceptional use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and risk of congenital heart defects in offspring: population based study

BMJ 2017; 356 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j832 (Published 06 March 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;356:j832

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Antidepressants carry mortality risks for pregnant mothers

Suicides and self-harm traumatisms are the sixth leading cause of death,but pharmacological interventions could not reduce them [1], probably because recent evidence reveals that administered antidepressants actually increase suicide risks by 2-5 times. [2][3][4][5][6][9]
A recent meta-analysis, level I evidence, clearly demonstrated that SSRIs double the risk of suicide and violence in adults. [4]
Furthermore, antidepressants increase all cause mortality by 33%! [10][11]
All pharmaceutical Companies must be obbliged to incude these warnings in every antidepressant preparation sold.
Another meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry has found that even patients with the most severe depression can expect to get as much benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as those with less severe symptoms. [7]
Cognitive behavioural therapy halves the risk of repeated suicide attempts. [12]
Even Behavioural Activation effectively decreases depressive symptoms. [8]
References
[1] http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i6761
[2] http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0141076816666805
[3] http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3510
[4] http://www.bmj.com/content/352/bmj.i65
[5] http://nordic.cochrane.org/sites/nordic.cochrane.org/files/public/upload...
[6] http://www.bmj.com/content/355/bmj.i6103
[7] http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/210/3/190.long
[8] http://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.j914
[9] http://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3697/rr-4
[10] http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/article/antidepressants-associated-with-sig...
[11] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28903117
[12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5650127/

Competing interests: No competing interests

22 December 2017
Stavros Saripanidis
Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Thessaloniki, Hellas