Antidepressants Reduce Suicide Attempts

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The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry recently published a 27-year longitudinal observational study of antidepressants and risk of suicide attempts. The study sample included 757 participants at 5 U.S. academic medical centers who enrolled from 1979 to 1981 during an episode of mania, depression, or schizoaffective disorder. The risk of suicide attempts or suicides was reduced by 20 percent among participants taking antidepressants, thus antidepressants were associated with a significant reduction in the risk of suicidal behavior.

In England, a multipronged National Suicide Prevention Strategy has resulted in a reduced number of suicide attempts. Read more about it in Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/1/8.2.full.