The UK has a Suicide Prevention Strategy which has been overseen by Professor Louis Appleby
In 2005 Millie Kieve's email to Professor Louis Appleby explained the concerns about his Suicide Prevention Strategy not mentioning Medication Induced Suicide (Iatrogenic - treatment induced suicide)
IF YOU ARE HAVING THOUGHTS ABOUT SUICIDE - DO NOT STAY ON YOUR OWN. CALL A RELATIVE OR FRIEND - This may be a temporary state of mind and if you can find support you will get over this dark moment.
SAMARITANS Whatever you're going through, call free any time, from any phone
call - 116 123. 24hr service for anyone feeling distressed and wishing to speak to someone
http://www.samaritans.org.uk/
Ask someone to stay with you.
If you decide to go or are taken to the hospital:
Take a list of all medicines and drugs you have taken or recently stopped, to the emergency department. Do not leave the hospital - and insist on staying until the suicidal feelings have passed or you are in the care of people who understand the risks and will care for you.
The Samaritans are supportive but wont know if the problem is caused or exacerbated by your medical treatment. You can contact them if it will help to speak to someone, at any time of day or night:
You do not have to be actually suicidal to call the Samaritans, if bereaved or sad about anything they are there to help.
MAYTREE - 020 7236 7070 for anyone feeling suicidal or concerned about someone else
If you or anyone you know is contemplating suicide, another source of support is Maytree based in London. They offer supportive help for anyone who would like to call, talk and maybe go to their respite facility for a few days. You can self-refer to this charity call: 020 7263 7070 email or view the web site: www.maytree.org.uk
LOUIS APPLEBY the head of mental health in the NHS contantly ignores the patients experiences and favours pharmaceutical industry claims of 'no causal link' - he told parents of a young medical student, he was not interested in their claim the acne drug Roaccutane had triggered their son's suicide.
For many years we have asked and even begged this powerful leader in mental health to at least mention the fact that some people may suffer a sudden onset of suicidal ideation (as described by Lady Margaret Mar in the House of Lords)
A sudden urge to kill themselves can be triggered by chemicals such st organophospates used in the liquid sheep dip. Sheep are made to walk through a trough of liqued to keep their fur clean.
Suicidal ideation can also be triggered by adverse reactions or withdrawal effects of pharmaceutical drugs (including a sudden, unexpeted onset of akathisia or psychosis).
Pharmaceutical drugs linked to sudden onset of psychosis, akathisia, suicide or sudden accidental death include anti-malarials, antidepressants, acne drugs, sulfonamides, psychotropics, anti-inflammatory, benzodiaepine and others including those mentioned under the Medicines section of this web site.
An adverse drug reaction ADR well recognised is called AKATHISIA - a dreadful experience of agitation and restlessness that one person described as " wanting to jump out of my skin"
I sent an email to Professor Louis Appleby as you can read here 28th August 2005 - as an example of how long we have begged him to warn the patients and prescribers of the risk to some people of iatrogenic (treatment induced) suicide.
WARNINGS by the medicines regulators FDA, MHRA, Health Canada etc. on risk of suicide with various drugs have been issues but we cannot be sure medical students or qualified are aware of these as they are bombarded with information.
Antidepressant warning re suicide
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC437670/
UK
December 2003, the UK banned the use of 4 antidepressants for children; it had banned 2 others earlier last year. The US Food and Drug Administration followed on March 22 with a strongly worded warning about the drugs.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00294/full
USA
The decision made in the year 2004 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require a boxed warning on antidepressants regarding the risk of suicidality in young adults
https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/depression/210
Yo can sign up for updates and search in archives for particular drugs of concern
UK drug safety updates
https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update
Search on the site using word suicide https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update?keywords=suicide
Medical Education
Medical Education also fails in preparing prescribers and recipients of prescriptions for the possiblity the drug could do more harm than good.
Major effort has to be put into improving the standard of education for health professionals in the area of iatrogenic harm.
I would encourage campaigners to target the following organisation:
https://www.fpm.org.uk/aboutus/aboutFPM/aboutthefacultyhome
They have e learning modules
and could be targeted re akathisia etc
Annual Symposium : https://www.fpm.org.uk/newsevents/symposium
14 Nov at Wellcome Trust