Archives of suicide research : official journal of the International Academy for Suicide Research
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This study examines the association between antidepressant use and suicide rates, by sex, age, and method of suicide, between 1998 and 2007 in the United States. Overall suicide rates for the young and elderly declined but rates for the middle-aged increased. All age groups experienced increases in antidepressant use. ⋯ Firearm suicides for men and women declined but suicide by drug poisoning rose, particularly for women. For young males and elderly males and females, better treatment of severe depression may have contributed to declining suicide rates. However, rising rates of prescription drug use are associated with higher levels of suicide by drug poisoning.
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A strong therapeutic alliance is considered to be an essential factor for the effective assessment and management of suicidal patients; however, to date this has received little empirical attention. The current study evaluated the association of future change in suicidal ideation with therapeutic alliance during first appointments with primary care behavioral health consultants. ⋯ Results indicated that suicidal ideation generally improved over the course of several behavioral health appointments and that therapeutic alliance was rated very high by patients. Therapeutic alliance during the first appointment was not associated with eventual change in suicidal ideation.
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The objective of this study was to measure suicide risk in cancer patients and compare it with the general population. Suicide rates were based on 1,168 suicides in 1,123,528 cancer patients in California from 1997-2006 and were studied by race/ethnicity, sex, site, stage, and marital status. ⋯ Metastatic cancers and those of the prostate, lung and bronchus, pancreas, stomach, esophagus, and oral cavity in men and breast in women were associated with significantly higher risk. Cancer patients are at higher risk of suicide and should be specifically targeted for preventive efforts post diagnosis.
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The objective of this study was to determine which parental mental disorders predict offspring suicidal behavior in a general adult population sample of a sub-Saharan African country. The World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3 was used to assess respondents' suicidal behaviors as well as psychopathology in their parents. The effects of parental disorders in predicting offspring suicide ideation and attempts were examined in a series of bivariate and multivariate models. ⋯ Parental panic disorder and substance abuse were associated with suicide ideation in offspring, but only parental panic disorder was linked to suicide attempts. Parental panic disorder predicted the onset and persistence of suicide ideation and attempts and also which persons with suicide ideation go on to make a suicide attempt. This study further affirms findings from previous studies of the role of disorders characterized by anxiety and impulse control in suicide attempts and as being a probable link in the transmission of suicidal behavior to offspring.
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Multicenter Study
Psychopathic traits and suicidal ideation in high-school students.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the contribution of psychopathic traits in the prediction of suicidal ideation among non-clinical non-forensic adolescents. A sample of 312 high-school students completed questionnaires assessing suicidal ideation, depressive symptoms, borderline personality traits, and cannabis use and the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI, Andershed, Kerr, Stattin et al., 2002), which consists of three dimensions, the Interpersonal subscale (grandiosity, manipulation), the Affective subscale (callousness, unemotionality), and the Behavioral subscale (impulsiveness, irresponsibility). A multiple regression analysis showed that the affective component of psychopathic traits was an independent predictor of suicidal ideation. Our results suggest that clinicians should not assume that the presence of psychopathic traits in adolescent is a protection against suicidal ideation.