After four years of addictive social media use fueled her depression, a 12-year-old girl committed suicide just three weeks after being placed on Prozac, according to her mother, Charay Gadd.
Prozac, or fluoxetine, is a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that works by blocking the brain’s reabsorption of serotonin, according to the Mayo Clinic. SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants. Serotonin helps nerve cells communicate and affects mood, sleep, digestion, nausea and other functions.
On the night of July 31, 2024, London Gadd wallowed dozens of pills from her home’s medicine cabinet, including roughly 40 bupropion pills, an SSRI sold as Wellbutrin, 18 aspirin tablets; and unknown amounts of azithromycin and penicillin, according to her medical records, which Charay shared with The Defender. London died hours later at a local hospital.
Now, over a year later, Charay is still coming to grips with the loss of her daughter.
In Charay’s view, addictive social media platforms and SSRIs created a “perfect storm” that led to London’s death. “I hate that analogy, but that’s how I feel,” she said.
Charay joined a lawsuit claiming social media platforms are marketing dangerous products to children and adolescents. The suit alleges TikTok bombarded London with depression- and suicide-themed content, even when she searched for harmless topics like “alligator skin boots.”
“We wouldn’t have put her on SSRIs if the social media stuff wasn’t happening,” Charay said.
Charay wants lawmakers to ban SSRI prescriptions for children and teens. She said:
“You don’t even allow them to vote because of their brain development and things like that, or drink alcohol and make these judgments, but you’re putting them on brain-altering medications at 12 years old.”
Antidepressant prescriptions soar for teen girls
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a mental health industry watchdog, warned this month that doctors are writing antidepressant prescriptions for adolescent girls at alarming rates, creating a public health crisis fueled by “conflicts of interest between psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.”
Between 2020 and 2022, the number of U.S. girls ages 12-17 prescribed antidepressants increased by roughly 130%, according to a 2024 study published in Pediatrics.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) issued a black box warning in 2004 requiring drug companies to alert the public about an increased risk of suicidality in children and teens for SSRIs.
The FDA looked at 24 clinical trials involving over 4,400 young patients taking SSRIs. Patients on an SSRI faced double the risk of suicide (4%) during the first few months of treatment compared with the 2% risk reported in patients who received a placebo.
“Not to mince words, this means you are more likely to attempt suicide on the drugs than if you were given a placebo — this is a damning finding about the effectiveness and safety of these drugs,” said Dr. Josef Dorring, a psychiatrist who specializes in identifying and treating psychiatric adverse drug reactions and a former FDA medical officer.
‘All I kept getting told was it was the safest drug out there’
Charay said London’s psychiatrist never informed her of the warning when recommending Prozac for her daughter.
“I still have the bottle,” she said. “There was no suicide ideation warning. There was no black box warning, none of it. … All I kept getting told was it was the safest drug out there.”