BMJ 1994;308:1573 (11 June)

Letters

Antidepressants and suicide

EDITOR, - Goran Isacsson and colleagues examined the use of various antidepressants among people who committed suicide and concluded that therapeutic failure may be a greater problem than toxicity.1 They state that they refrained from ranking different drugs, but this occurred in practice because the differences found were explained on the grounds of the weaker antidepressive effect of the newer drugs, moclobemide and mianserin. The basis for the authors' conclusion was that, despite their relatively low toxicity, both drugs were overrepresented in the people who had committed suicide compared with their use in general.

The rate of suicide in Finland is among the highest in the world.2 To obtain more effective means of preventing suicide a one year nationwide study was conducted during 1987-8. During the year of the study 1397 suicides were committed; toxicological screening was performed in 1348 cases. All antidepressants sold at that time in Finland were . . . [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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