Antidepressants in suicide prevention

	Tweet

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 and regional level correlates, as expected with declining suicide mortality, and in no country has an increase in suicides due to antidepressants been reported.

While there is no doubt that potential side effects of antidepressive medication concerning suicidal behaviour are a very serious issue, it is important to obtain a balanced view of all the clinical and epidemiological facts pertaining to the effect of antidepressive therapy in relation to suicidal behaviour. 

Professor Erkki Isometsä, a renowned expert in psychiatric suicide research, will present the state of evidence and critically comment on the current discussion concerning this topic with regard to the role of antidepressive treatment in real-life clinical practice.

###

For further information please come to the press conference on 29 August 2008 in Barcelona, Spain!

SPEAKER: Professor Erkki T. Isometsä, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Finland

Contact: Sonja Mak

43-140-55734
European College of Neuropsychopharmacology

RELATED STORIES:
Depression increases mortality risk in diabetics   Maternal depressive symptoms at 2 to 4 months post partum and early parenting practices   Depressed parents’ children prone to mental woes   U.S. woman sues over harvesting of brother’s brain   Early Warnings Lowered Use of Antipsychotic Medications for Dementia   Bearing through it: How caregivers of mentally ill kin can cope   Risk for depression similar in men and women   Research shows promise for stopping progression of bipolar disorder   Canine compulsive disorder gene identified   Insomnia common in depressed HIV patients   Link Between Depression, Early Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease Found by Researchers   Suicide methods differ between men and women   Mental deficiency: Researchers identify gene mutations that affect learning, memory in children   A Drink A Day May Delay Dementia   Current Issues in the Classification of Psychotic Major Depression

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]