The Food and Drug Administration recently moved to require labels warning of an increased risk for suicide while taking antidepressants, settling a five-year debate among psychiatrists about the connection between antidepressants and suicide.

The FDA recently made the decision after both short- and long-term studies on patients of all ages showed significant suicide risk in younger patients, said FDA representative Mary Yebba.

She said many parents, patients and doctors are uninformed about the relation of suicide to antidepressants, and should be aware of the suicide risks for youth on antidepressants, though suicide has many causes which make it difficult to fault medication for suicide deaths.

Medical experts said suicidal action as a side effect of medication is difficult to monitor.

“Suicide is not an expected outcome for antidepressants because it is what they are supposed to work against,” said Russell Aims, Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine spokesman. “Suicide is different than any other kind of patient death caused by medications.”

Florida Detox founder and medical director Rick Spounagle said there are two kinds of anti-depressants, each one affecting a different brain chemical, dopamine or serotonin.

He said if a patient’s depression is based on dopamine deficiency and his doctor prescribes a serotonin-effective drug, it will have no effect on the patient’s depression. Because the drugs do not work, the patient can sink further into depression, increasing the risk of suicide.

The risk for suicide is even higher when a patient has Attention Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder because spontaneity exacerbates depression, Spounagle said. Doctors who are underinformed about trends in pharmaceuticals further worsen the situation of patients being incorrectly medicated, he said.

“Doctors are reading boating magazine instead of the news, so they don’t know about these things,” he said.

Sponaugle said depression affects people in many different situations – including elation and joy — citing former Pittsburg Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw as an example.

“Even on the four days when Terry Bradshaw won the Super Bowl, the happiest and most exciting days of his life, he would go back to the hotel, away from the cheering fans and large crowds,” Sponaugle said. “He became suicidal because he was on the wrong anti-depressants.”