Antidepressants and suicide: Rising prescription rate does not mean rising rate of new users

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7463.461

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ comment articles:

From

Limit by

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

Graham Aldred, research associate,
David Healy, director (healy_hergest@compuserve.com)

North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, Hergest Unit, Ysbyty Gwynedd, North Wales LL57 2PW
North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, Hergest Unit, Ysbyty Gwynedd, North Wales LL57 2PW

EDITOR—The figures put forward in Gunnell and Ashby's paper on suicide rates and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants, indicative of a rising prescription rate since the launch of these drugs, may be misleading, in that a rising prescription rate does not mean a rising rate of new users.1 A formal model that translates prescriptions into patients, that we hope to submit for peer review later this year, …