American gun violence & mental illness: Reducing risk, restoring health, respecting rights & reviving communities

Intentional injuries claimed nearly two hundred lives every day in the United States in 2020, about two-thirds of them suicides, each a story of irretrievable human loss. This essay addresses the complex intersection of injurious behavior with mental illness and access to firearms. It explores what more can be done to stop gun violence while […]

Medical assistance in dying for mental illness as a sole underlying medical condition and its relationship to suicide: A qualitative lived experience-engaged study

Objective: This lived experience-engaged study aims to understand patient and family perspectives on the relationship between suicidality and medical assistance in dying when the sole underlying medical condition is mental illness (MAiD MI-SUMC). Method: Thirty individuals with mental illness (age M =41.8 years, SD=14.2) and 25 family members (age M =47.5 years, SD=16.0 ) participated […]

Innovations in community-based mental health care: An overview of meta-analyses

In the last four decades, mental health services for people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) have seen asylums replaced by a balanced model of Community Mental Healthcare (CMH). Innovative approaches and strategies in the field of CMH have been extensively researched. However, this research has been hampered by issues limiting their capacity to inform clinicians […]

Functional impairment, internalized stigma, and well-being: Considerations for recovery-oriented suicide prevention for U.S. Veterans with serious mental illness

Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Centers (PRRCs) provide recovery-oriented care to veterans with serious mental illness (SMI). As part of program evaluation, PRRC providers regularly assess recovery-oriented outcomes. Given the high rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among veterans with SMI, understanding such outcomes in relation to suicide risk is crucial. Among […]

Safer services: Suicide by people with mental illness

Effects of social support on suicide-related behaviors in patients with severe mental illness: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Patients with severe mental illness have a high risk of suicide and frequently living eliminated from mainstream society, but the effects of social support on suicide-related behaviors among this crowd is inconclusive. The present study aimed to explore such effects among patients with severe mental illness. Methods: We implemented a meta-analysis and a qualitative analysis of […]

Differences in characteristics and exposure to stressors between persons with and without diagnosed mental illness who died by suicide in Victoria, Australia

Background: Mental illness is an established risk factor for suicide. To develop effective prevention interventions and strategies, the demographic characteristics and stressors (other than, or in addition to, mental illness) that can influence a person’s decision to die by suicide need to be identified. Aim: To examine cases of suicide by the presence or absence of a diagnosed […]

Suicidality, mode of suicide attempt and psychiatric co-morbidity among suicide attempters in a tertiary hospital of North-East India: An observational study

Introduction: Suicide is considered as a fatal act of self injury (self harm) undertaken with more or less conscious self destructive intent to end his/her life, however vague and ambitious. Psychiatric illnesses are often identified as risk factors for suicide attempt. The present study was conducted with the objective of assessing the suicidality, mode of […]

Australian physiotherapists’ perceived frequency of contact with clients experiencing distress: A cross-sectional survey

Background: Previous research suggests physiotherapists’ perceived frequency of contact with clients experiencing psychological distress is common; however, there is significant variation in the frequency of such contact. Objective: The study aimed to 1) investigate Australian physiotherapists’ perceived frequency of contact with clients experiencing various forms of psychological distress; 2) identify potential factors that predict perceived frequency of […]

Understanding TBI as a risk factor versus a means of suicide death using electronic health record data

Objective: The aim of this research was to examine predictors and characterize causes of suicide death in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and conduct sensitivity analyses with and without people whose first diagnosis of TBI occurred within 3 days of their suicide death. Methods: This case-control study examined suicide risk for people with TBI in eight […]

Yearning to be heard: What veterans teach us about suicide risk and effective interventions

Background: Patients with serious mental illness can be at higher risk for suicide. Most research has focused on determining the risk factors for suicide-related events using quantitative methodologies and psychological autopsies. However, fewer studies have examined patients’ perspectives regarding the experience of suicidal events. Aims: To better understand suicide experiences from the perspective of patients diagnosed with […]

How to build and maintain relationships with mental illness

This book outlines tools for building and maintaining relationships for and with people with mental illness by providing some insight and solutions to typical challenges. However, this book will not paraphrase the work of medical professionals, who accurately and scientifically assess mental illness. Instead, this book shows that people should care about mental illness because […]

Statewide assessment of North Carolina nurse practitioners’ knowledge of and attitudes toward suicide awareness and prevention: Protocol for a statewide mixed methods study

Background: Suicide is a major public health problem, which affects people of all ages and ethnicities. Despite being preventable, the rates of suicide have steadily climbed (more than a third) over the past 2 decades. Objective: Nurse practitioners (NPs) must be responsible for recognizing suicide risk and providing appropriate treatment referrals in addition to having […]

Psychometric properties of two Arabic Suicide Scales: Stigma and literacy

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death. Suicide stigma and literacy may affect the rate of suicide and help-seeking behaviors. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Stigma of Suicide Scale-short form (SOSS-SF) and Literacy of Suicide Scale (LOSS). The sample included 160 Jordanian university students. Reliability analysis showed acceptable Cronbach’s […]

Risk of suicide attempts and self-harm after 1.4 million general medical hospitalizations of men with mental illness

Background: The short-term risk of suicide after medical hospital discharge is four times higher among men compared with women. As previous work has identified female-specific antecedents of suicide-related behavior after medical hospitalization of women with serious mental illness, we examined predictors among a similar population of men with multimorbidity. Methods: Classification and regression tree (CART) models were […]

A review of the association between gene contributions and medical illness in patients with suicide behavior

Suicidal behavior is one of the most important public health issues in Taiwan. Suicide- related studies indicate that, apart from the coexisting risk factors, the probability of co-morbid physical and psychiatric disorders is  high. Moreover, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on suicidal behavior have been expected to contribute comprehensive information toward the possible prevention and treatment […]

Cost-effectiveness of implementing a suicide prediction tool (OxMIS) in severe mental illness: Economic modeling study

Background: Cost-effectiveness analysis needs to be considered when introducing new tools and treatments to clinical services. The number of new assessment tools in mental health has rapidly expanded, including suicide risk assessment. Such suicide-based assessments, when linked to preventative interventions, are integral to high-quality mental health care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). We […]

Geospatial analysis of associations among mental health need, housing need, and involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County

The purpose of this study was to use geospatial indicators of mental health need and homelessness in Los Angeles County Service Planning Areas (SPAs) and a psychiatric sample of adults who were homeless to investigate 1) overlap between SPA level of mental health need and corresponding volume of involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations over time; 2) overlap […]

Suicide in prisons: Describing trends and staff knowledge and preparedness to address suicide

Purpose: Suicide prevention and intervention in prisons is a challenge. Prisons were not designed to be clinical facilities, yet with the growing numbers of people who face mental health challenges in prisons, staff require knowledge and skills to adequately address mental health crises, especially suicide. This study aims to: describe trends in suicide attempts and completions […]

Zero suicide: An international declaration for better healthcare

This declaration was developed by a diverse group of 50 peer leaders, government policy makers, and healthcare providers from 13 countries convened for Atlanta 2015: An International Declaration and Social Movement to address the aspirational goal of zero suicide in healthcare. It discusses the problem of suicide stemming from a lack of effective care and […]

Mental disorder symptom among public safety personnel in Canada

Background: Canadian public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers) are exposed to potentially traumatic events as a function of their work. Such exposures contribute to the risk of developing clinically significant symptoms related to mental disorders. The current study was designed to provide estimates of mental disorder symptom frequencies and […]

Minding mental health: Clinicians’ engagement with youth suicide prevention

Suicidal ideation and deaths among children and adolescents have seen an unprecedented rise over the last ten years, recently further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores mental health professionals’ approaches to delivering suicide prevention treatment services. Using insights from Giddens’ structuration theory, the study examines licensed mental health professionals’ (1) reflections on suicide […]

Why are women more likely to attempt suicide than men? Analysis of lifetime suicide attempts among US adults in a nationally representative sample

Objective While it is well-known that women are more likely to attempt suicide than men, little is known about risk and protective factors underlying this difference. Methods Using data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave III (NESARC-III), we compared women and men with and without self-reported lifetime suicide attempts to identify sociodemographic, […]