This was my son's experience too. Soon after starting to take an SSRI (also Citalopram), he experienced intense suicidal urges and attempted to kill himself. In hospital his dose was doubled and he was discharged to outpatient care. The suicidal urges continued and this was treated aggressively with more SSRIs and an antipsychotic. My son became so numb and sedated that he was almost completely unable to function - and the suicidal urges continued.
After 18-months of this, I became aware that suicidal urges are a well established side-effect of SSRIs, as are the emotional numbing and sedation. My son had not been warned about any of these effects by his GP or by any of the psychiatrists issuing prescriptions. I witnessed this myself when I had to support my son during consultations because he was cognitively incapable of managing them alone.
After a consultation where yet another set of medication was discussed, my son decided that he didn't want to take any more drugs. After this, he experienced a few months of withdrawal symptoms, but then recovered completely.
Informed consent doesn't seem to be happening when antidepressants are prescribed and the doctors prescribing them seem to have a very low level of awareness about the serious adverse events that can occur when some people take these drugs. It's impossible for a doctor to know if their patient died due to this side-effect as their suicide will always be attributed to the diagnosis given.
Perhaps if there were a mandatory information and consent form to be completed by the patient with support from the doctor every time a prescription for psychotropic drugs is issued, patients and doctors would be better informed and lives could be saved. My son would have had the information he needed to return to his GP to report the side-effect.
NB I note with disappointment that the NHS guidance 'Staying safe from suicide' (NHS England, 4 April 2025) contains no prompt for the doctor to consider whether the suicidal urges might be associated with the medication that a patient is taking, especially when starting a new medication, at dose changes or during withdrawal. Another opportunity missed.
