In the accompanying comment, Volkmann et al. [1] question the interpretation of our analyses of the relation between antidepressant medication and suicidal behaviour and violent crimes. We thank them for giving us the opportunity to clarify several potential misunderstandings regarding our original paper [2]. We agree that results from observational cohort studies should be interpreted with caution and we have done our best to do so. As the title of our article indicates, the main aim and focus of our study was to explore changes in rates of suicidal and criminal behaviour over time, following initiation of antidepressant treatment.