The Three Faces of the Antidepressants: a Critical Commentary on the Clinical-Economic Context of Diagnosis

Depression was infrequently diagnosed before the advent of antidepressants but has now apparently become a major public health problem. National campaigns aim at increasing recognition of the condition & at commencing treatment. Implicit in these approaches is the premise that treatment will necessarily reduce disability & ultimately lower suicide rates. Healy argues that these results are by no means certain. He states that injudicious & unmonitored treatment may in fact increase suicide risk.