Intense suicidal thoughts and self-harm following escitalopram treatment.
In a minority of depressed patients, treatment with an antidepressant drug appears to initiate intense suicidal thoughts and actions. We describe this phenomenon in a 52-year-old woman treated with escitalopram. She did not experience this when treated with six other antidepressants, which were not Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. Clinicians need to warn patients and their relatives of the risk that intense suicidal thoughts may develop after an antidepressant drug is started and encourage them to seek help immediately should this occur.
Department of Older Adults Psychiatry, South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust and Staffordshire University, UK.
Farooq
F
Khan
Morris
M
Bernadt