Simple Test Can Detect Signs of Suicidal Thoughts in People Taking Antidepressants

[The Straight Story]

Simple Test Can Detect Signs of Suicidal Thoughts in People Taking Antidepressants

Now, UCLA researchers have developed a non-invasive biomarker, or indicator, that may serve as a type of early warning system.

Reporting in the April edition of the peer-reviewed journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Aimee Hunter, an assistant research psychologist in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, and colleagues report that by using quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG), a non-invasive measurement of electrical activity in the brain, they were able to observe a sharp reduction of activity in a specific brain region in individuals who proved susceptible to thoughts of suicide -- within 48 hours of the start of treatment.

Prior research, Hunter said, has shown that between 8 and 14 percent of depressed patients develop thoughts of suicide while taking the most common forms of depression drugs, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Although reports have suggested that SSRIs are to blame, no firm link between these drugs and thoughts of suicide has been established.

This study suggests, for the first time, a link between worsening suicidality and specific changes in brain function while on these medications.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100409093411.htm

[Quantess]

1. Interesting.

[Recursion]

2. My dad's a suicidologist

He's been saying for years that antidepressants can be very dangerous because they give suicidal people the energy to actually do it -- that severe depression is, oddly enough, a positive control on suicidal desires. He's not against them but he thinks they have to be paired with cognitive and behavioral therapy. But it's good to see this kind of test can be done.