5 Steps You Can Take If Your Antidepressants Are Making You Feel Suicidal

Are your antidepressants making you feel suicidal?

This is a real question, unfortunately.

According to scientifically approved, peer-reviewed medical literature, your antidepressant drugs that you have been taking to overcome depression may in fact be increasing your suicidal feelings. You can read the report for yourself at this link.

Another study reported at this link reports, “Some evidence suggests that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors [SSRIs] may cause worsening of suicidal ideas in vulnerable patients.”

And yet a third study in the British Medical Journal concluded that antidepressants increase the risk of suicide, violence and homicide at all ages.

Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.

Young people ages 10 to 34 are at much greater risk as suicide is now the second leading cause of death among this age group.

As today is World Suicide Prevention Day, I wanted to offer some practical steps you can take if you are taking antidepressants and noticing that you are feeling suicidal.

1. Get Immediate Help. In the U.S., the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is toll free 1-800-273-8255.

In the UK, please call the Samaritans at 116 123.

For a list of suicide crisis lines where ever you are in the world, please consult this link.

2. Look up the side effects of every drug you are taking at Rxlist.com. 

For example, if you look up Paxil (paroxetine hydrochloride) Tablets and Oral Suspension, you will immediately see this warning:

Suicidality and Antidepressant Drugs

Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of PAXIL or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need. Short-term studies did not show an increase in the risk of suicidality with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults beyond age 24; there was a reduction in risk with antidepressants compared to placebo in adults aged 65 and older. Depression and certain other psychiatric disorders are themselves associated with increases in the risk of suicide. Patients of all ages who are started on antidepressant therapy should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber. PAXIL is not approved for use in pediatric patients. (See WARNINGS: Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk, PATIENT INFORMATION, and PRECAUTIONS: Pediatric Use.)

If you are taking any medication that may increase your risk of suicidal feelings and notice you have been feeling suicidal, please call your doctor immediately.

3. Read Banish the Blues Now.

Did you know that you may be able to heal your depression naturally?

Banish the Blues Now, one of my seven Amazon number 1 bestselling books, explains a host of natural healing approaches that you can take, including resolving longstanding medical problems that cause depression.

You can watch an interview I did for the Natural Healing Show for UK Health Radio about how to heal depression naturally at the link below.

A long time ago, a friend of mine became so depressed that he agreed to a series of electric shock treatments.

I can recall visiting him in a mental hospital while he was receiving electric shock therapy.

A brilliant, kind man, he had been devastated by years of unremitting severe depression.

When the electric shock therapy didn’t work, he finally gassed himself in his car.

This is why I wrote Banish the Blues Now – so not one more person needs to lose his or her precious life for not knowing about natural healing remedies that may actually work.

4. Test your brain chemistry. Did you know you can actually take a lab test to find out what’s going on with your neurotransmitters?

If you have been taking antidepressants, did your medical doctor recommend you test your brain chemistry before prescribing your medication?

Being the sister, daughter, granddaughter, great granddaughter and niece of medical doctors, I have great respect for the medical profession.

However, it always astounds me when I am working with new clients taking not just one but two, three, four, five, six, seven and even more psychiatric drugs and no one has ever tested their brain chemistry.

In this day and age you can actually do that and potentially receive even more accurate treatments based on your individual neurotransmitter imbalances.

This neuroadrenal test from Directlabs.com tests your DHEA (D), Cortisol x 4 (C), Creatinine (CRN), Serotonin (S), GABA (GA), Dopamine (DP), Epinephrine (E), Norepinephrine (NE), Glutamate (GLU), Glycine (GLY), Histamine (HST) and Phenethylamine (PEA).

You can order this lab test yourself and discuss the results with your medical doctor.

If the purpose of antidepressants is to balance your brain chemistry, how would you know whether the medications you are taking are actually improving your brain chemistry if you don’t test to find out?

5. Figure out what you actually need to be happy. 

Antidepressants are not actually “happy pills.”

Getting to happy is an inside job.

To get to happy, you have to be honest with yourself about what will make you happy.

You are a soul and your soul longs for certain things – can you give yourself permission to listen?

When I work with clients, I frequently tune in and identify the top 5 things you need right now to become a happy person.

You can watch an interview I did on this subject for the Natural Healing Show for UK Health Radio at the link below.

Realize that your life is a precious gift.

You are also a gift to the world.

No one quite like you has ever been born.

You have a spiritual purpose for being here in this lifetime, even if you have not yet figured out what it is.

If you have been feeling suicidal – whether or not you have been taking antidepressants – please take the steps necessary to heal yourself at the deepest levels.

I was recently reading the news when I discovered that a former client, a New York police officer who had consulted me for a medical intuitive reading over a year ago about longstanding physical health problems, had taken his life this summer.

I remembered how much I had enjoyed working with him and what a great guy he was. He had truly been suffering terrible pain.

As I read the news that he had become one of 9 members of the NYPD to take his own life, I found myself wishing he had reached out to me just one more time!

Do not become a statistic.

Love yourself enough to get the help you deserve.

What is healing? Healing happens when you stand your ground and commit to doing the inner work to becoming a happy person.

To set up an appointment for a medical intuitive reading or healing work, please email catherine@catherinecarrigan or call 678-612-8816. If you are calling internationally, please call me at the same number through WhatsApp so I can return your call toll free!