Anti-seizure medications and risk of suicide: Re-addressing the issue

Although suicidal behaviour in epilepsy is a complex phenomenon, evidence suggests that suicide rates are higher amongst individuals with epilepsy than the general population. Yet, it has been a decade since the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has passed a warning with anti-seizure medications (ASMs) and risk of suicide, the scientific community is still far from a final answer to this association. Since the available data are not methodologically strong enough to support or reject the claimed increased risk of suicide using ASMs, the dilemma continues. Through this perspective, authors sought to list certain important issues that the past studies often over-looked, which play a vital role in determining the true relationship between the use of ASMs and the risk of suicide.