The role of the lateral habenula in suicide: A call for further exploration

Despite decades of significant effort in research, policy, and prevention, suicide rates have continued to rise to the current peak of 14.6 per 100,000 deaths. This has resulted in a concerted effort to identify biomarkers associated with suicidal behavior in the brain, to provide predictions that are better than the chance of discerning who will […]

Examining the temporal stability of suicide capability among undergraduates: A latent growth analysis

Background: Relatively few studies test the interpersonal psychological theory’s monotonicity hypothesis. The monotonicity hypothesis proposes that suicide capability (i.e., fearlessness about death and pain tolerance) is stable or increases linearly with exposure to painful and provocative events. Research is conflicted, suggesting that suicide capability is static, decreases, or increases and returns to baseline. The current study […]

What is capability for suicide? A review of the current evidence

It is well known that most people who think about suicide do not attempt or die by suicide. Capability for suicide, a construct proposed by Joiner (2005) within the interpersonal theory of suicide, was relatively novel in that it explained a potential mechanism by which individuals move from thinking about suicide to engaging in suicidal […]