A new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, examined the link between antidepressant use, age, and self-harm.  A previous study showed that suicidal behavior was twice as likely in children using antidepressants than adults over the age of 24.  This study took that analysis one step further, examining how the dosage level influences self-harm, if at all.

CBS News reports that the study found that younger patients who began treatment with higher-than-recommended doses of antidepressants were more than twice as likely to try to harm themselves as those who were initially treated with the same drugs at lower, recommended doses.  Doctors should not start with high doses in children and young adults.

This is not the first time antidepressants have caused alarm.  According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), concerns were raised about the use of a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in 2004.  At that time, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a label warning that antidepressants may increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes depression as a condition “characterized by depressed or sad mood, diminished interest in activities which used to be pleasurable, weight gain or loss, psychomotor agitation or retardation, fatigue, inappropriate guilt, difficulties concentrating, as well as recurrent thoughts of death.”  Depression is correlated with adverse health conditions and behaviors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, sleep disturbance, and physical inactivity.  In addition to addressing depression itself, exercise can mitigate one of its adverse health impacts.

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older, are affected with major depressive disorder.  The condition can develop at any age, but the median age of onset is 32.  As many as one in 33 children and one in eight adolescents have clinical depression.