Preventing Suicide In Patients With Mental Disorders

Suicide is a complex phenomenon that is now considered understood as a neurodevelopmental condition encompassing childhood experiences as well as proximal conditions such as mental disorders and adverse life events. Individuals in crisis may face overwhelming psychological pain, which in some cases may overcome the threshold of each unique individual for whom suicide is considered the best option to deal with such pain. However, many socio-demographic, personal, or temperamental variables have been investigated for their causal association with suicide risk, but to date no single factor has clearly demonstrated an association with suicide. The mental disorders most frequently associated with suicide risk include bipolar disorders and major unipolar depression, substance use disorders and schizophrenia. However, anxiety, personality, eating, and trauma-related disorders, as well as organic mental disorders, also contribute to suicidal risk. Moreover, in modern society, the presence of social uncertainty, the changes in family models, the development of social media, and the loss of face-to-face interaction can have an impact on suicide risk, particularly in the younger generation.

Suicide prevention initiatives are part of much broader systems connected to activities such as the diagnosis of mental illness, the recognition of clinical risk, improving access to care, and coordinating with a broad range of outside agencies and entities around both prevention and public health efforts. Yet suicide is also an intensely personal issue that continues to be surrounded by stigma. On September 11-12, 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss preventing suicide among people with serious mental illness. The workshop was designed to illustrate and discuss what is known, what is currently being done, and what needs to be done to identify and reduce suicide risk. Improving Care to Prevent Suicide Among People with Serious Mental Illness summarizes presentations and discussions of the workshop.

Suicide is a complex phenomenon that is now considered understood as a neurodevelopmental condition encompassing childhood experiences as well as proximal conditions such as mental disorders and adverse life events. Individuals in crisis may face overwhelming psychological pain, which in some cases may overcome the threshold of each unique individual for whom suicide is considered the best option to deal with such pain. However, many socio-demographic, personal, or temperamental variables have been investigated for their causal association with suicide risk, but to date no single factor has clearly demonstrated an association with suicide. The mental disorders most frequently associated with suicide risk include bipolar disorders and major unipolar depression, substance use disorders and schizophrenia. However, anxiety, personality, eating, and trauma-related disorders, as well as organic mental disorders, also contribute to suicidal risk. Moreover, in modern society, the presence of social uncertainty, the changes in family models, the development of social media, and the loss of face-to-face interaction can have an impact on suicide risk, particularly in the younger generation.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

Written by front line professionals in the fields of nursing, mental health, prison services and the law, this text is an essential companion to the government's new suicide prevention strategy. The contributors offer a wealth of practical guidance on issues such as risk assessment and management in a range of settings, policy and the legal framework around suicide. Exploring the links between self-harm and suicide, the authors present international approaches to training in suicide prevention for professionals and preventative initiatives targeting wider communities. They debate the legality and morality of assisted self-harm and analyse the rate and causes of suicide among specific groups, including Black and minority ethnic groups, people in custody and people with mental illnesses. This manual provides health, social care and criminal justice professionals with all the most up-to-date information needed to make a positive contribution to suicide prevention in institutional and community settings.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

With recent studies using genetic, epigenetic, and other molecular and neurochemical approaches, a new era has begun in understanding pathophysiology of suicide. Emerging evidence suggests that neurobiological factors are not only critical in providing potential risk factors but also provide a promising approach to develop more effective treatment and prevention strategies. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide discusses the most recent findings in suicide neurobiology. Psychological, psychosocial, and cultural factors are important in determining the risk factors for suicide; however, they offer weak prediction and can be of little clinical use. Interestingly, cognitive characteristics are different among depressed suicidal and depressed nonsuicidal subjects, and could be involved in the development of suicidal behavior. The characterization of the neurobiological basis of suicide is in delineating the risk factors associated with suicide. The Neurobiological Basis of Suicide focuses on how and why these neurobiological factors are crucial in the pathogenic mechanisms of suicidal behavior and how these findings can be transformed into potential therapeutic applications.