Antidepressant Treatment and Suicidality Across the Life Course
Concept Clearance – July 2005
Presenter
Jane A. Pearson, Ph.D.
Adult Treatment and Preventive Intervention Research Branch
Division of Services and Intervention Research, NIMH
Description
The purpose of this research activity is to encourage new theory-driven investigations that can inform on the relationships between treatments of depression and emergence of severe adverse events such as insomnia, agitation, hostility, akathisia, and particularly suicidality. Research has shown that more than 90 percent of people who kill themselves have depression or another diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, often in combination with other mental disorders. In 2002, suicide was the third leading cause of death among 10-to-24-year-olds. Few proven interventions to reduce suicidality exist. Furthermore, the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings regarding increased risks for suicidal behavior during treatment with antidepressants — warnings in the form of “black box” statements by manufacturers — have raised the uncertainty of various intervention approaches.
A major purpose of this activity will be to fund innovative, multi-disciplinary research that, utilizing innovative approaches such as mixed methods and appropriate theories from disciplines less tapped for mental health research, aims to examine the relevance of critical developmental periods for the emergence of antidepressant effects (for both efficacy and adverse outcomes).
Comments
Submit comments to Jean Noronha at jnoronha@mail.nih.gov.
