Pharmacologic interventions in suicide prevention.

Suicide rates vary by country and by mental disorder. What does not vary, though, is that the number of suicides per year is not declining and that a person with a mental disorder is more likely to commit suicide than one without such an illness. Although many pharmacologic interventions have been reported to reduce the risk of suicide among mentally ill patients, especially those with bipolar disorder, the effects of such interventions are inconsistent at best. Lithium is the only medication for which the evidence consistently shows an antisuicidal effect.