Study: Antidepressants underused in elderly

April 16, 2009 The results of a postmortem toxicology study indicates that elderly people who commit suicide usually do not have antidepressant medications in their systems at the time of death.

Researchers say, assuming that many of the suicide victims had clinically treatable depression, these findings indicate a problem.

The study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found evidence that many people had been taking anti-anxiety drugs, hypnotics and painkillers in lieu of antidepressants.