Pivotal Lawsuit Shows Widely Used Antidepressant Increases Suicide Risk Over 800 Percent
Annabelle Bamforth
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
March 26, 2017
A trial is currently underway in Illinois as a widow seeks to hold pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline accountable for improper labeling and minimizing a potentially serious side effect of a well-known antidepressant.
Paroxetine is a widely prescribed antidepressant and anti-anxiety drug under the class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Paroxetine is most commonly known as the brand name of Paxil, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
Since 2012, Wendy Dolin has been engaged in a legal battle against GSK following the suicide of her husband, Stewart Dolin. Wendy says that in the summer of 2010, Stewart was prescribed a generic version of Paxil for anxiety issues related to work. According to Wendy, Stewart Dolin complained of becoming increasingly anxious and restless and was unable to sleep while taking the drug. On July 15, 2010, less than one week after beginning this medication, Stewart committed suicide by walking in front of a train.
Wendy began searching for answers in the wake of her husband’s suicide and said she learned that he had been displaying signs of akathisia, a disorder characterized by an individual’s inability to relax or sit still. Psychiatrist Joseph Glenmullen said in 2006 that “Patients have described [akathisia] to me as listening to nails scratching on a black board 24/7, or your bones rattling like tuning forks. It is this inner agitation that is by far the most dangerous.” In 2012, Wendy filed a legal complaint against GSK seeking to hold the manufacturer liable for her husband’s death. The complaint noted that “a scientist working for another SSRI manufacturer, Pfizer, wrote in a 1998 medical journal article that the suicidal impulses resulting from akathisia may be explained as a feeling that ‘death is a welcome result’ when the ‘acutely discomforting symptoms of akathisia are experienced on top of already distressing disorders.’”
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