[The effect of antidepressive agents on suicide in depressive patients]

Antidepressants do not only lead to a decrease of depression, they also reduce the frequency of suicidal ideations. Due to insufficient data and contradictory findings it is not possible to determine clearly whether certain antidepressants are more effective in reducing suicidality than others. Nevertheless, there are some findings on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors which support this hypothesis (Baldwin et al., 1991; Möller, 1992). The hypothesis that antidepressants with a certain mode of action might evoke suicidality in depressive patients under certain circumstances, has not been corrobarated by data derived from controlled studies (Mann u. Kapur, 1991; Derby et al., 1992). The general hypothesis based on clinical experience that non-sedating or activating antidepressants are possibly problematical in depressive suicidal patients, should nevertheless be kept in mind for safety's sake. In rare cases antidepressants like other psychopharmacological drugs, such as benzodiazepines, can evoke aggressive/autoaggressive behaviour.