Behavioral toxicity and equivocal suicide associated with chloroquine and its derivatives.

Although the antimalarial agents chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and amodiaquine are widely used to treat a variety of medical conditions, their behavioral toxicity and lethality are not generally recognized. Therapeutic doses sometimes cause psychosis, delirium, personality change, and depression. Since moderately low overdoses of chloroquine can result in rapid death, such behavioral effects could lead to accidental or state-dependent overdosage and death.