Citation

Rihmer Z. European Psychiatric Review 2011; 4(1): 48-51.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite suicidal behaviour being a very complex, multicausal phenomenon, untreated major affective (bipolar and unipolar) disorders are the most powerful predictors for it. As suicidal behaviour in people with mood disorders is a state-dependent phenomenon, long-term management is fundamental for suicide prevention. Naturalistic, retrospective and prospective follow-up studies, as well as randomised controlled trials, consistently show that long-term lithium treatment reduces the risk of completed and attempted suicide by approximately 80%, both in people with bipolar disorder and unipolar depression. The marked anti-suicidal potential of lithium seems to be more than the simple reflection of its phase-prophylactic effect, as a significant reduction in the number of suicide attempts was found not only in the excellent responders, but also in moderate responders and in non-responders. Current studies also show that the combination of lithium treatment with psychosocial interventions further improves the results. © Touch Briefings 2011.

Language: en

Keywords

human; Suicide; bipolar disorder; Bipolar disorder; Suicide attempt; suicide attempt; Suicide prevention; major depression; lithium; suicidal behavior; treatment outcome; bipolar depression; Unipolar depression; mood disorder; Affective disorder; article; antidepressant agent; amitriptyline; social psychology; epidemiological data; placebo; carbamazepine; drug efficacy; valproate semisodium; valproic acid; lamotrigine; risk reduction; drug response; mood stabilizer; add on therapy; Lithium treatment