This letter to the editor comments on a paper by Isacsson (2000) in which he discussed how a five-fold increase in the use of antidepressants was followed by a 25% decrease in the Swedish suicide rate. The authors discuss how a similar result was seen in Hungary between 1984-1998 despite the adverse changes in key social-psychiatric risk factors, e.g. unemployment & alcoholism. A reply by Isacsson follows.