suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally ending your life.

There are three levels of intervention in suicide; 1) universal 2) selective and 3) indicated.

Universal interventions target everyone in a defined population. They aim to increase awareness about suicide, remove barriers to care, promote help-seeking and encourage protective factors. Some examples of universal interventions include school-based interventions and national initiatives such as restricted access to lethal means. Evidence suggests that universal interventions are effective at increasing awareness and helping skills, though there is little evidence to suggest they’re effective at reducing suicide-related thoughts or behaviours.

Selective interventions address specific groups at increased risk for suicidal behaviours, for instance those with mental health problems or harmful use of substances. To date, there have been few studies into selective interventions and results are mixed.

Indicated interventions target high-risk individuals already displaying signs of suicidal behaviour. Examples include brief contact interventions (e.g. crisis cards) and talking therapies. Evidence suggests that brief contact interventions are effective for young people in clinical settings. A network meta-analysis conducted in 2021 found that the most effective talking therapies for suicide and self-harm in young people are dialectical behavioural therapies and mentalisation-based therapies.

 

Our suicide Blogs

Suicide prevention in schools: all plain SEYLE-ing?

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Stephen Wood appraises the SEYLE cluster RCT that investigates the effectiveness of suicide prevention in schools. This is the first large-scale European study of universal interventions for suicide prevention in schools.

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Around one in five suicides across the world linked to unemployment

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Claire Niedzwiedz summarises the Lancet Psychiatry longitudinal modelling study of suicide and unemployment, which uses the WHO mortality database to investigate suicides in 63 countries worldwide from 2000-2011.

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Do British newspapers breach suicide reporting guidelines?

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Caroline Tomes highlights a new study that explores suicide reporting in the arts sections of British newspapers. The study concludes that there is poor compliance with suicide reporting guidelines in British newspapers, but further research is needed before we can generalise these findings.

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Cyberbullying and mental health in young people

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Elly O’Brien summarises a recent US survey of adolescents, which investigates the relationship between cyberbullying, mental health and substance use problems, and the moderating role of family dinners.

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Is suicide contagious? Definition and epidemiology of suicide clusters

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Mark Smith summarises a recent narrative synthesis of research looking at the definition and epidemiology of suicide clusters.

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Interpersonal therapy and imipramine may be effective at reducing suicidal ideation in depression, but more research needed

Susie Johnson considers how effective conventional depression treatments are at reducing suicidal ideation in depression. The new study she summarises concludes that interpersonal therapy and antidepressants can also reduce suicidal ideation.

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Meta-review presents the risks of all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders

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This recent and well-conducted meta-review concludes that the impact on mortality and suicide of mental disorders is substantial, and probably poorly appreciated as a public health problem. Raphael Underwood’s blog summarises the data for all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders.

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Antidepressants, safety warnings and suicide risk in young people

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Andrew Shepherd reviews the recent controversial BMJ study that suggests the FDA black box warning about antidepressant use in young people, may have inadvertently caused an increase in suicidal behaviour. He finds it’s not quite that clear cut.

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Fewer patients kill themselves in mental health units, but there are bigger benefits to home care

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Suicides among mental health patients under home treatment are double the number of suicides in inpatient units, according to a new study published in The Lancet Psychiatry which looks at suicide rates in different mental health settings.

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Preventing serious adverse outcomes in schizophrenia

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People diagnosed with schizophrenia are 7.4 times more likely to be convicted of violent offences, 8.1 times more likely to die prematurely, and 20.7 times more likely to kill themselves.

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