The TGA says a rise in antidepressant prescriptions for children and adolescents is “concerning” and has called for improved guidance to help GPs manage depression in young people. 

It launched an investigation into the safety of youth prescription of the drugs following a controversial study published in June that postulated a link between increasing prescriptions and suicides in Australia.  

Led by politician turned mental health researcher and campaigner Dr Martin Whitely (PhD), from Curtin University in WA, the research team compared changes in PBS antidepressant dispensing with Australian Bureau of Statistics suicide rates among young people over the previous two decades.  

Although the TGA found there was insufficient evidence to support Dr Whitely’s premise that rising use of antidepressants in the young was causing more suicides, it said the increase in prescriptions was still a concern.