Though antidepressants can be life enhancing, they can also make matters worse. They can increase suicidal thoughts and cause more mood swings and anger-the symptoms that they may be intending to help! They can push some one into a raging, out of control state that only hospitalization can contain, so they need to be used with caution and prescribed judiciously.
It is especially dangerous when there is a possability of bipolar illness. In this context, antidepressant use can be like fuel poured on a fire. I have even seen many cases where the addition of antidepressants actually cause depression in bipolar patients and when they are withdrawn the depression begins to lift.
Don't get me wrong, I am an avid proponent of the use of antidepressants as I have seen lives of patients and family members devastated by ravages of depression turn around with antidepressant use use, but they must not be used without proper consideration of the risks and without close monitoring.
