Weak Link Between SSRIs and Suicide

A multi-faceted study in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry reviewed existing evidence to determine the relationship between suicidal ideation and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use. Researchers “critically reviewed” meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on SSRIs, observational studies of SSRI-prescribed patients, and ecological studies examining the correlation between population use of SSRIs and population suicide rates. The evidence suggests that SSRIs increase suicide ideation within the first 9 days of treatment, but the risk is similar as that with older TCAs. Ecological studies in developed countries found that either suicide rates decreased with increased SSRI use, or found no causal relationship between SSRI use and suicide rates. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1440-1614.2006.01917.x

-LS