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Programs to prevent suicide have emphasized psychosocial, educational, and means-reduction strategies, with medication playing a more limited role. These researchers updated their previous meta-analysis with 70% more subjects to include 48 randomized, controlled trials (12 studies of unipolar patients, 19 of bipolar patients, and 17 of patients with bipolar, unipolar, or schizoaffective disorder; N=6674). The meta-analysis compared the effects of lithium, placebo, and in some studies, various active medications (mostly, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics), on deliberate self-harm, completed suicide, and overall mortality. Risks with active comparators were examined individually.
Compared with placebo, lithium markedly reduc…