title: [Pharmacological suicide prevention under special consideration of lithium salts].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This minireview summarizes the existing evidence from large, international observational studies and RCTs on the suicide preventive effects of lithium as compared to other mood stabilizers and antidepressants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Unsystematic literature review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is increasing and robust evidence from a relatively large number of studies and metaanalyses that lithium long-term treatment reduces the suicide risk and overall mortality in patients with all kinds of depressive disorders (unipolar, bipolar, schizoaffective). Comparable evidence does not exist with regard to other mood stabilizers including atypical neuroleptics, or antidepressants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The existing evidence on the suicide preventive effect of lithium should be integrated in therapeutic guidelines and routine psychiatric care.
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Berlin. bmoe@zedat.fu-berlin.de
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Müller-Oerlinghausen
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D018020:Lithium Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000092864:Suicide Prevention