Antidepressants in suicide prevention

Depression is the most important single factor predisposing to suicide, and more than half of all subjects completing suicide are known to have suffered from depression. Unfortunately, depression is still often untreated or undertreated, even after a suicide attempt. Antidepressive drugs represent the cornerstone of treatment of depressive patients. However, their role has become somewhat controversial over the last few years due to reports suggesting that antidepressants might, in a small subgroup of younger patients (recently estimated at 0.7% in clinical trials) actually worsen suicidal tendencies instead of alleviating them. As a consequence, regulatory authorities in many countries have reconsidered their cost-benefit ratio. On the other hand, in many western countries, increasing use of antidepressants on the national... [read full story]