Potential Problems when Youth at Risk for Bipolar Disorder Take SSRIs
At a symposium at the 2019 meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, researcher Manpreet Singh reported that in youth at high risk for bipolar disorder, 53% had an adverse event while taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant (SSRI), and 26% had a new onset of suicidality while taking an SSRI. These adverse events were associated with reduced size and increased activation of the amygdala, the brain region responsible for emotion processing. Singh concluded that dysfunction in the prefrontal-limbic network may predict adverse events in children at risk for bipolar disorder when they are given SSRI antidepressants. She urged caution in the use of antidepressants in this population. Researcher Joseph Biederman echoed this caution later in the meeting.
