Psychiatric Aspects of Suicidal Behaviour: Anxiety Disorders (IN: The International Handbook of Suicide and Attempted Suicide, edited by K Hawton & K van Heeringen)

Pathological anxiety plays an important role in suicidal behaviour, independently & as a comorbid symptom. Anxiety increases the risk of suicide in psychiatric disorders, imminently & over the life-span. Pathological anxiety in all its forms is amenable to treatment. The best strategy to prevent suicide is to offer such treatments & continue to improve them. Due to the low base rate of suicide & confounding factors in long-term studies, documenting with a degree of certainty that anxiolytic treatment lowers the risk of completed suicide requires very large case-control studies. (74 refs.)