High depression symptomatology and mental pain characterize suicidal psychiatric patients

Background: Symptoms of depression are transdiagnostic heterogenous features frequently assessed in psychiatric disorders, that impact the response to first-line treatment and are associated with higher suicide risk. This study assessed whether severe mental pain could characterize a specific phenotype of severely depressed high-risk psychiatric patients. We also aimed to analyze differences in treatments administered. Methods: 2,297 adult […]

Joining psychiatric care and faith healing in a prayer camp in Ghana: Randomised trial

Background: Care of people with serious mental illness in prayer camps in low-income countries generates human rights concerns and ethical challenges for outcome researchers. Aims To ethically evaluate joining traditional faith healing with psychiatric care including medications (Clinical trials.gov identifier NCT02593734). Method: Residents of a Ghana prayer camp were randomly assigned to receive either indicated medication for schizophrenia […]

Emotion dysregulation and mindfulness in non-suicidal self-injury

This study examined the association between mindfulness and engagement in non-suicidal self-injury (ENSSI) and whether emotion dysregulation explains this association. A secondary objective was to explore the difference between participants who engaged in a suicide attempt and those who only engaged in non-suicidal self-injury. A sample of 201 psychiatric patients (62.7% female; age range: 18–71 […]

Temperament and character of high suicide risk group among psychiatric patients

Objective The purpose of this study was to classify patients with suicidal tendencies into suicide attempts (SA), suicidal ideation (SI), and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and to identify differences in temperaments and characters of the groups. It also aimed to identify difference between the groups and non-suicidal tendencies. Methods Using psychiatric diagnostic data of 195 patients, […]

13 Reasons Why: Perceptions and correlates of media influence in psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents

Objective The Netflix series 13 Reasons Why (13RW) has sparked controversy due to graphic depictions of youth suicide, bullying, and sexual assault. However, further research is needed examining experiences of the show among youth with psychiatric illness. This exploratory, mixed-methods study examines adolescents’ perceptions of 13RW and associations among viewership, suicide-related media influence processes, and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors […]

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide ideation and suicide attempts in psychiatric patients in Italy

There has been little research reported regarding both suicide ideation and suicide attempts during the COVID-19 pandemic and government lockdown restrictions in Italy, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic. We investigated whether the frequency of suicide ideation and suicide attempts differed between psychiatric patients admitted to a psychiatric unit before and during […]

Completed versus attempted suicide in psychiatric patients: A psychological autopsy study

The aims of this study were to identify specific risk factors associated with completed suicide in a sample of suicide victims diagnosed with mental illness and to discriminate completed suicides from attempted suicide in individuals who did not kill themselves for at least the next 2 years after the index attempt. Ninety-four adults (34 women; […]

Influence of spiritual dimensions on suicide risk: The role of regional differences

The field of suicide prevention has been enriched by research on the association between spirituality and suicide. Many authors have suggested focusing on the various dimensions of religiosity in order to better understand the association between religion and suicidal risk, but it is unclear whether the relationship between spirituality and suicidality differs between countries with […]

Assessing psychiatric safety in suicidal emergency department patients

We provide a review of the assessment of suicidal emergency department patients and includes a legal and ethical perspective. Screening tools and psychiatric consultation are important adjuncts to the ED evaluation of potentially suicidal patients. Suicide risk should be assessed, and if positive, an appropriate and safe disposition should be arranged. The aim of this […]

The relationship between smoking and suicidal behavior in psychiatric patients with major depressive disorder

Smoking is frequently associated with suicidal behavior, but also with confounding other risk factors. We investigated whether smoking independently predicts suicidal ideation, attempts (SAs), or modifies risk of SAs during major depressive episodes (MDEs). In the Vantaa Depression Study (VDS), a 5-year prospective study of psychiatric patients (N = 269) with major depressive disorder (MDD), we investigated […]

Literature-based recommendations for suicide assessment in the emergency department: A review

BACKGROUND: Suicidal ideation and attempted suicide are important presenting complaints in the Emergency Department (ED). The Joint Commission established a National Patient Safety Goal that requires screening for suicidal ideation to identify patients at risk for suicide. OBJECTIVES: Given the emphasis on screening for suicidal ideation in the general hospital and ED, it is important […]

Mental health professionals’ suicide risk assessment and management practices: The impact of fear of suicide-related outcomes and comfort working with suicidal individuals

Background: Approximately 20% of suicide decedents have had contact with a mental health professional within 1 month prior to their death, and the majority of mental health professionals have treated suicidal individuals. Despite limited evidence-based training, mental health professionals make important clinical decisions related to suicide risk assessment and management. Aims: The current study aimed to determine […]

The Sardinian puzzle: Concentration of major psychoses and suicide in the same sub-regions across one century.

Background: Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island has long been considered a privileged observatory for the study of several medical conditions. The peculiar epidemiology of mood disorders and suicide across Sardinian sub-regions has long intrigued clinicians and researchers. Objective: The principal aim of the present study was to test whether the geographical distribution of suicides […]

Suicide in recently discharged psychiatric patients: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Few controlled studies have specifically investigated aspects of mental health care in relation to suicide risk among recently discharged psychiatric patients. We aimed to identify risk factors, including variation in healthcare received, for suicide within 3 months of discharge. METHOD: We conducted a national population-based case-control study of 238 psychiatric patients dying by suicide […]

Deaths by suicide and their relationship with general and psychiatric hospital discharge: 30-year record linkage study.

BACKGROUND: Studies have rarely explored suicides completed following discharge from both general and psychiatric hospital settings. Such research might identify additional opportunities for intervention. AIMS: To identify and summarise Scottish psychiatric and general hospital records for individuals who have died by suicide. METHOD: A linked data study of deaths by suicide, aged ≥15 years from […]

Association of self-reported impulsivity to nonsuicidal self-injury, suicidality, and mortality in adolescent psychiatric inpatients.

This study examines the association of self-reported impulsivity to nonsuicidal self-injury, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and completed suicides in a clinical sample of 508 Finnish adolescents (aged 12–17) treated in psychiatric inpatient care between April 2001 and March 2006. The Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime interview was used […]

Support for relatives bereaved by psychiatric patient suicide: National confidential inquiry into suicide and homicide findings.

Objectives:  International suicide prevention strategies recommend providing support to families bereaved by suicide. The study objectives were to measure the proportion of cases in which psychiatric professionals contact next of kin after a patient’s suicide and to investigate whether specific, potentially stigmatizing patient characteristics influence whether the family is contacted. Methods:  Annual survey data from […]

Meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies of suicide risk assessment among psychiatric patients: Heterogeneity in results and lack of improvement over time.

Objective: It is widely assumed that the clinical care of psychiatric patients can be guided by estimates of suicide risk and by using patient characteristics to define a group of high-risk patients. However, the statistical strength and reliability of suicide risk categorization is unknown. Our objective was to investigate the odds of suicide in high-risk […]

Combined effects of physical illness and comorbid psychiatric disorder on risk of suicide in a national population study.

Background People with physical illness often have psychiatric disorder and this comorbidity may have a specific influence on their risk of suicide. Aims To examine how physical illness and psychiatric comorbidity interact to influence risk of suicide, with particular focus on relative timing of onset of the two types of illness. Method Based on the […]

Differential effects of executive functioning on suicide attempts.

Suicide is common among patients with psychiatric illnesses.Executive-functioning variables among ideators and attempters are examined. Contact us for a copy of this article, or view online at http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/jnp.23.2.jnp173#

Re-examination of classic risk factors for suicidal behavior in the psychiatric population.

Journal held in CSP Library.

Psychiatric disorders and aggression in the printed media: Is there a link? A central European perspective.

Persons with mental illness are still over-portrayed as perpetrators of violent crimes, especially homicides.

When something’s wrong: Ideas for families.

Designed to give parents, caregivers or other family members useful strategies to cope with and assist children and youth with mood, behaviour, or thinking difficulties (eg. social withdawal, disorganized thinking, hostility, aggression, agitation).