Study finds surprising links between depression, suicide, an...( en after other factors were taken into ...),Health

The individual presence of other symptoms of depression, whether common (e.g., depressed mood) or more rare (e.g., weight change) did not predict a greater likelihood of later seizures.

While this finding clearly suggests common underlying brain mechanisms for suicidal behavior and epilepsy, the results also suggest that depression and suicidal behavior may be related to different mechanisms.

"Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempt or suicidal thoughts," said Hesdorffer. "Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent the occurrence of later completed suicide."

"We plan to follow up with studies designed to see whether the co-occurrence of these disorders is explained by shared genetic susceptibility, and with studies that examine possible common underlying neurotransmitter abnormalities," said Hesdorffer.

'"/>

Contact: David Greenberg
dgreenbe@wiley.com
201-748-6484
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
10-Oct-2005