Twenty years after the large development of the use of psychotropic drugs and of a psychiatric formation for doctors, 63 subjects with a major depressive episode following the D.S.M. III-R criteria were interviewed in a psychiatric emergency unit about their psychotropic drugs consumption and their medical care preceding a drug self-poisoning. There is a discrepancy between the subjects' depressive pathology and their care consumption. During the depressive episode 3% of the subjects received a treatment considered to be adequate--existence of an antidepressant therapy at sufficient dosage and duration together with a medical psychological follow-up. The results indicate a relative failure of the health care system. The importance of the selection of the sample and the limits of a medical approach are stressed. The usefulness of anti-depressant drugs and the necessity for a psychiatric training for doctors cannot be questioned. Only prospective studies could demonstrate whether a better suited medical action is able to reduce the incidence of suicidal behaviour among depressive patients.