objective: previous suicide interventional studies are controversial in their results. the present study compared brief intervention and contact (bic), with treatment as usual (tau) in their influence on the repetition of suicide attempts 6-month after the index suicide attempt. methods: adults who had attempted suicide were assigned two groups randomly: 311 in the tau and 321 in the bic. the b...

Using treatment as usual (TAU) in trials has obscured the repeated finding that assertive outreach has never reduced hospitalisation when compared with treatment by multidisciplinary teams (community mental health teams, CMHTs). Its use has delayed recognising that CMHTs are the more cost-effective, evidence-based approach. The term should be abandoned and trials should compare two equally well...

As it occurs for schizophrenia, former subtypes of depressive disorder such as endogenous, reactive, neurotic, retarded, agitated, and anxious types lost their popularities over years. Major depression representing the full picture of depressive disorder and the disthymic disorder as milder and rather chronic types of the latter have been introduced to replace previous ones. However, albeit the...