The pharmacologic treatment of suicidal patients

Résumé

Although suicide occurs most commonly in mood disorders, it is also seen across the diagnostic spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Suicide has not been found to be predictable in an individual, but certain variables reviewed in this chapter have been found to be risk factors for suicide. Most difficult is the clinical recognition of acute risk factors for suicide in time for therapeutic intervention. Pharmacologic treatments have been found for patients at long-term risk as well as acute risk for suicide. Lithium carbonate as well as antidepressants, given for at least 6 months, reduce long-term suicide risk. New-generation antipsychotic medications with anxiolytic and impulsivity-reducing properties, such as quetiapine and olanzapine, may be useful in the reduction of these acute risk factors for suicide. Data aiding the clinician in the recognition of acute suicide risk as well as treatments for the prevention of suicide are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved) TENTATIVE SUICIDE-COMPLÉTÉ FACTEUR-RISQUE PSYCHOPATHOLOGIE TROUBLE-ANXIEUX IMPULSIVITÉ TROUBLE-PSYCHOTIQUE PHARMACOTHÉRAPIE SÉROTONINE TRAITEMENT