A study that appeared in the July 21, 2004 Journal of the American Medical Association appeared to support previous data possibly linking antidepressants to suicidal impulses. After looking at four drugs and nearly 2,800 British adults and children, there was evidence that suicidal thoughts or attempts were four times more likely during the first ten days of treatment than they were after three months.

The FDA is investigating antidepressants and issued a public health advisory asking ten drugmakers to strengthen suicide warnings on labels earlier this year, including popular drugs Paxil and Prozac. On Aug. 26 GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Europe's largest drug maker, said it settled a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who accused the drug maker last June of withholding safety data that had examined the safety of prescribing the anti-depressant medication Paxil to children. When Paxil was compared to Dothiepen users, studies found Paxil users to have 29 percent more suicidal tendencies.

One of the study's authors believes the increase in suicidal tendencies among Paxil users was statically insignificant, though it also did not eliminate the possibility of increased risk when using Paxil. The study's data offers more insight to the controversial debate over the link between antidepressants and suicide but fails to resolve any lingering questions. Some family members of people that committed suicide while taking antidepressant drugs have continued to blame the medication.

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