Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T15:14:52.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Influence of Antidepressants in Overdose on the Increased Suicide Rate in Ireland Between 1971 and 1988

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

M. J. Kelleher ,
M. Daly  and
M. J. A. Kelleher
M. J. Kelleher*
Affiliation:
St Anne's Hospital & Clinic, Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
M. Daly
Affiliation:
St Anne's Hospital, Shanakiel, Cork, Ireland
M. J. A. Kelleher
Affiliation:
University College, Cork
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There has been almost a threefold increase in the incidence of suicide in Ireland during the past 20 years. When each case occurring between 1971 and 1988 was reviewed, the major causes of death were found to be drowning and hanging. Deliberate overdoses with tricyclic antidepressants accounted for less than 4% of all suicides, over the 17 years studied, and during this time, overdose with tricyclics has made a proportionately smaller contribution to the total number of suicides. Greater attention should be paid to identifying and treating the majority of suicidal patients who are at risk by other methods.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 5 , November 1992 , pp. 625 - 628
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barraclough, B. (1972) A medical approach to suicide. Social Science and Medicine, 6, 661–667.Google Scholar
Cassidy, S. & Henry, J. (1987) Fatal toxicity of antidepressants in overdose. British Medical Journal, 295, 1021–1024.Google Scholar
Clarke Finegan, M. & Fahy, T. J. (1983) Suicide rates in Ireland. Psychological Medicine, 13, 385–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daly, M. & Kelleher, M. J. (1987) The increase in the suicide rate in Ireland. Irish Medical Journal, 80, 8.Google Scholar
Donovan, S. & Freeman, H. (1990) Deaths related to antidepressants: a reconsideration. Journal of Drug Development, 3, 113–120.Google Scholar
Kelleher, M. J. & Daly, M. (1989) Changes in the Irish suicide rate. In Current Research on Suicide and Parasuicide. Proceedings of 2nd European Symposium on Suicide (eds N. Kreitman & S. Platt). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Kelleher, M. J. & Daly, M. (1990) Suicide in Cork and Ireland. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 533–538.Google Scholar
Leonard, B. E. (1989) Toxicity of antidepressants in overdose. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Research, IX, 101–110.Google Scholar
McClure, G. M. G. (1987) Suicide in England and Wales. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 309–314.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Pinder, R. M. (1987) Do some antidepressants promote suicide? Psychopharmacology, 92, 265–266.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, P. (1973) Suicide: opinions and facts. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 66, 579–587.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, P. (1986) The epidemiology of suicide. In Suicide (ed. A. A. Roy), p. 18. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, P., Jenkins, J. & Levey, A. (1980) The social correlates of suicide in Europe. In The Suicide Syndrome (eds R. D. T. Farmer & S. R. Hirsch). London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.