A major new study shows that, contrary to recent controversy that antidepressants may increase risk of suicide in users, antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have prevented thousands of suicides since they were introduced in 1988.

Dr. Julio Licino, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami Miller school of Medicine says, "As the number of [SSRI] prescriptions go up, the number of suicides go down."

HealthDay News reports the authors of the study analyzed federal data on suicide rates since 1960, along with the number of fluoxetine (Prozac) sales since the drug became available in 1988.

Suicide rates between the early 1960s and 1988 remained fairly consistent, fluctuating between 12.2 per 100,000 and 13.7 per 100,000.

Since 1988, suicide rates have gradually declined - the lowest point was 10.4 per 100,000 in 2000. During the same time period, prescriptions for Prozac increased from 2,469,000 in 1988 to 33,320,000 in 2002.

Licino says, "On average, we estimate that there would have been an additional 33,600 suicides if the pre-1988 trends had been maintained."

The authors of the study are troubled that prescriptions of antidepressants are declining, seemingly due to the recent controversy.

Helen Stavros, a clinical social worker in the department of psychiatry at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans says, "I see a lot of people being afraid to take drugs when they could be really helpful to them."

The study appears in the June issue of the journal PLoS Medicine