Suicidality and antiepileptic drugs in people with epilepsy: an update

Almost 15 years after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert about an increased suicidality risk with antiseizure medications (ASMs), there is still considerable debate on this subject.

This is a review of the role of ASMs in the context of suicide in epilepsy.

After an explosion of research shortly after the FDA warning was released, only a limited number of studies were published in more recent years, and they did not overcome the limitations of previous studies. Overall, available literature does not support an obvious causal relationship between ASMs and suicide. On the contrary, studies are highlighting the complex relationship between suicide and epilepsy, strengthening the bidirectional relationship and the multifactorial origin.