The occurrence of suicide following the prescription of antidepressant drugs

Data from 222 suicides were collected over a period spanning 1990 to 1994 from three regions of Britain and Ireland (Torbay [England], Northern Ireland and Cork [Republic of Ireland]). Forty one (18.5%) of the cases had been prescribed one antidepressant within one month of their suicide. The ratio between the occurrence of suicide and the prescription of different classes of antidepressant, particularly tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), indicated that suicide by any method (violence, gassing, poisoning by ingestion of any substance) was more likely to occur following the prescription of SSRIs than of TCAs. We found some evidence that less-overdose-toxic antidepressants were preferentially prescribed to patients at a higher risk of suicide which probably largely explains our finding. The clinical implications of our result are that whilst preferential prescribing of safer-in-overdose antidepressants will reduce fatalities due to TCA overdose, this tactic is unlikely, by itself, to have a significant effect on the overall suicide rate.