Carmine Pariante, Professor of Biological Psychiatry, King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, also condemned the premise of the documentary. “There is no good evidence that antidepressants increase the risk of violent behaviour, and the extremely rare (and tragic) cases that are cited in support of this theory could be explained by chance: antidepressants are prescribed relatively widely, and so by chance someone on antidepressants will commit a violent act. Moreover, people on antidepressants may be suffering from some forms of mental disorder or distress that may, albeit very occasionally, increase the risk of reacting impulsively or violently.”
He said that with 11 percent of the U.S population currently taking antidepressants, “we would have clearly seen an increased risk of violence if there was one.”
“In contrast, we know very well that every time an alarm reduces the rates of prescription for antidepressants, suicide rates increase, including in adolescent and young adults. The risk of suicide attempt in patients treated with the commonly use SSRI antidepressants is approximately one-third that of patients who are not treated with an SSRI. And this is without even considering the life-saving effects that these medications have on patients’ recovery from their mental health problems.”
Allan Young, Professor of Mood Disorders, King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, and Seena Fazel, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, both pointed to the lack of evidence showing a link between antidepressant use and violence.
Young said they must be extremely careful to make sure any claims made are backed up by strong evidence, and if serious side effects are found, then they “should about them” because they want to help patients.
"If there was good evidence of antidepressants turning people into murderers then we would certainly be looking into that,” he said. “It is an extremely strong claim and therefore needs to be backed by strong evidence. So many people take antidepressants that we will always be able to find some coincidences, but it takes a lot more evidence to mean it's more than that."
