During the past decade, the dramatic change in patterns of both psychiatric diagnoses and prescription of psychotropic agents has been noted since the introduction of newer antidepressant drugs. In the meantime, suicide has been recognized as a major public health problem all over the world. Research efforts have hence been spent in exploring the interrelationships between suicide rates and prescription of antidepressant drugs (as a proxy for the treatment of depression). However, most available studies came from developed countries despite that the majority of countries with rising suicide rates during the past decade were developing countries. Both suicide rates and prescription of antidepressant agents have been rising in Taiwan during the past decade; with a reliable mortality registrar and nationwide health insurance covering 99% of its population, Taiwan is distinctive in realizing a large-scale analysis on these interrelationships between suicide and prescription of antidepressant drugs. However, there has been no study in Taiwan exploring these potential associations up to now.