BMJ 1994;308:915-916 (2 April)

Letters

Suicide and the use of antidepressants Drug treatment of depression is inadequate

EDITOR, - Goran Isacsson and colleagues suggest that therapeutic failure of antidepressant drugs may be a greater problem in people who commit suicide than toxicity in overdose as their results indicated no advantage of the newer, less toxic drugs; furthermore, their results confirmed that only a small minority of people who commit suicide have received antidepressant treatment before death despite the high prevalence of depression in the population.1 The notable problems in their otherwise impressive database were, however, that they had neither diagnostic information nor knowledge of the dosage used in the cases studied. As our work may contribute to these questions,2 we wish to confirm and extend their findings.

In the national suicide prevention project in Finland all suicides (n=1397) in Finland committed between 1 April 1987 and 31 March 1988 were comprehensively examined by the psychological necropsy method. Mental disorders were evaluated retrospectively, according to the criteria in . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Use of antidepressants among people committing suicide in Sweden
G Isaccsson, P Holmgren, D Wasserman, and U Bergman
BMJ 1994 308: 506-509. [Abstract] [Full Text]

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  • Gibbons, R. D., Hur, K., Bhaumik, D. K., Mann, J. J. (2005). The Relationship Between Antidepressant Medication Use and Rate of Suicide. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62: 165-172 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Mann, J. J. (2002). A Current Perspective of Suicide and Attempted Suicide. ANN INTERN MED 136: 302-311 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Isacsson, G., Holmgren, P., Wasserman, D., Bergman, U. (1995). Antidepressants and suicide. BMJ 310: 127a-127 [Full text]  
  • Isacsson, G., Redfors, I., Wasserman, D., Bergman, U. (1994). Choice of antidepressants: questionnaire survey of psychiatrists and general practitioners in two areas of Sweden. BMJ 309: 1546-1549 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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