TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2000//
TI  - Deliberate self-harm and antidepressant drugs. Investigation of a possible link
JO  - British journal of psychiatry
A1  - Donovan, S.
A1  - Clayton, A.
A1  - Beeharry, M.
A1  - Jones, S.
A1  - Kirk, C.
A1  - Waters, K.
A1  - Gardner, D.
A1  - Faulding, J.
A1  - Madeley, R.
SP  - 551
EP  - 556
VL  - 177
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: It is not clear if the frequency of deliberate self-harm (DSH) is the same in patients taking different pharmacological classes of antidepressant drugs. AIMS: To compare the frequency of DSH in patients who had been prescribed a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) prior to the DSH event. <br><br>METHOD: This was a prospective study in 2776 consecutive DSH cases attending an accident and emergency department. The incidence of DSH in TCA-treated cases and SSRI-treated cases is expressed as number of DSH events per 10 000 prescriptions of each antidepressant. <br><br>RESULTS: Significantly more DSH events occurred following the prescription of an SSRI than that of a TCA (P<0.001). The occurrence of DSH was highest with fluoxetine and lowest with amitriptyline. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Merely prescribing safer-in-overdose antidepressants is unlikely to reduce the overall morbidity from DSH.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0007-1250
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.177.6.551
ID  - ref1
ER  -