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Antidepressant prescribing prior to suicide: role of doctors

Reaside Clinic, Birmingham B45 9BE

Nick Booth and David Russell, General Practitioner

Mount Pleasant Health Centre, Exeter EX4 7BW

Roy Powell, Clinical Audit Facilitator

Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, Exeter EX2 5DW

Martin Briscoe, Consultant Psychiatrist^*

Wonford House Hospital, Exeter EX2 5AF

Correspondence: ^* Correspondence

The pharmacological treatment of depression and the time elapsed since last seen by a doctor were investigated among 507 adults who subsequently killed themselves. The proportion of people consulting a general practitioner or psychiatrist prior to suicide was lower than reported by the British government in the Health of the Nation document. General practitioners prescribed relatively low doses of antidepressants. Nineteen out of the 115 people receiving antidepressants used the drugs to kill themselves. Our findings emphasise the importance of prescribing adequate doses of antidepressants and underline the need for safer prescribing.

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