Weekly News Roundup Feb. 10-16, 2024

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Suicide rates in the US are on the rise: New study offers surprising reasons why– CU Boulder Today
February 15, 2024
**Method warning** A new American study has sought to identify factors in the steady increase in the US suicide rate. Some factors identified include increased access to potentially lethal opioids for women and a “shrinking federal safety net.” One of the study’s authors, Daniel Simon says, “We contend that the U.S. federal government’s weak regulatory oversight of the pharmaceutical industry and tattered social safety nets have significantly shaped U.S. suicide risk.”

Environmental racism underlies Grassy Narrows’ mercury and suicide crises– David Suzuki Foundation
February 15, 2024
New research has concluded the exposure of people living in Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario to mercury is a major factor in the suicide crisis the community experienced in the 1970s. “Loss of their Indigenous culture and values, as well as their traditional food and livelihood” and intergenerational trauma from the residential school system also contributed, however “direct effects of mercury poisoning caused a massive increase in youth suicide attempts.” The study found that, if a mother was exposed in childhood to mercury, this  “was directly associated with having at least one nervous system disorder, which, in turn, was associated with her current psychological distress.”

Study: New treatment method helps reduce suicide risk among military and veterans– Medical Express
February 14, 2024
A new study has found that crisis response planning, a brief intervention with a person with suicidal thoughts, can quickly reduce those thoughts among patients receiving daily treatment for two weeks for PTSD. Principal investigator Craig J. Bryan says, “This study shows that crisis response planning can rapidly reduce suicide risk. It is the first study to prove this technique works when used during massed therapy for PTSD.” It was found that among study participants, crisis response planning: was a low-cost and effective way to reduce suicide risk among patients with PTSD, reduced the severity of suicidal thoughts by 50%, reduced the number of suicide attempts among participants.

More than half of Black transgender youth have considered suicide in the past year– The Hill
February 13, 2024
Data released by LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project has found that, in the US, more that 50% of Black transgender and non-binary youth reported seriously considering suicide in the past year, with 20% reporting having attempted suicide. Derrick Matthews, director of research science at The Trevor Project, said, “Being an LGBTQ+ young person comes with its own set of systemic challenges, but we must not silo efforts to address those challenges among young people who hold multiple marginalized identities. It is imperative to include the racial discrimination experienced by Black LGBTQ+ youth in this work as well.”

Pilot project uses AI to prevent suicide in Montreal Metro– CBC
February 11, 2024
**Method warning** As part of public transport system Metro Montreal’s suicide prevention strategy, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and researchers from the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues and End-of-Life Practices (CRISE) are developing an AI system to scan CCTV footage in metro stations to detect warning signs of a person who may be in crisis. Brian Mishara, CRISE director and co-investigator of the STM AI project says, “We’ve analyzed the videos of all the people who attempted suicide [in the Metro] with the goal of trying to see if there are some indications that someone might be in distress… We’ve got some indicators, but obviously a human cannot watch hundreds of screens all day long to try to identify those behaviours.” The idea is that the system will warn the control room in real time and possibly metro operators directly, allowing trains to brake and special constables to be deployed to help the person believed to be in crisis. “Someone could be sent to the station to go up to the person and say, are you OK? Do you need some help?” Mishara said.