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Causes, treatment and prevention of suicide

Section edited by Ute Lewitzka

This section will cover all aspects of a wide range of suicidality, considering studies of suicidal behaviour, its causes and effects but also its prevention and intervention approaches. Research which investigates psychological and sociological as well as neurobiological, genetic and pharmacological aspects of suicidal behaviour are also of great interest. The section also incorporates topics such as assessment and risk-management approaches, ethical issues in intervention research, cross-cultural risk factors for suicide as well as the needs of those bereaved by suicide.

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  1. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and other peripheral autonomic electrical parameters have been used as indicators of emotional states, including depressive states and suicidal state. We aimed to review EDA resear...

    Authors: Marco Sarchiapone, Carla Gramaglia, Miriam Iosue, Vladimir Carli, Laura Mandelli, Alessandro Serretti, Debora Marangon and Patrizia Zeppegno

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2018 18:22

    Content type: Research article

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  2. In Norway, there are about 550 suicides recorded each year. The number of suicide attempts is 10–15 times higher. Suicide attempt is a major risk factor for suicide, in particular when violent methods are used...

    Authors: Per Sverre Persett, Tine K. Grimholt, Oivind Ekeberg, Dag Jacobsen and Hilde Myhren

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2018 18:21

    Content type: Research article

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  3. WHO data shows that female immigrants in Europe attempt suicide at higher rates than ‘native’ women and ‘native’ and immigrant men. Empirical studies addressing attempted suicide of female immigrants of Caribb...

    Authors: Diana D. van Bergen, Merijn Eikelenboom and Petra P. van de Looij-Jansen

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2018 18:14

    Content type: Research article

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  4. Cholesterol has been associated as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Recently, however, there is growing evidence about crucial requirement of neuron membrane cholesterol in the organization and functi...

    Authors: Marcela Segoviano-Mendoza, Manuel Cárdenas-de la Cruz, José Salas-Pacheco, Fernando Vázquez-Alaniz, Osmel La Llave-León, Francisco Castellanos-Juárez, Jazmín Méndez-Hernández, Marcelo Barraza-Salas, Ernesto Miranda-Morales, Oscar Arias-Carrión and Edna Méndez-Hernández

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2018 18:7

    Content type: Research article

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  5. Prior research has validated the construct of a suicide crisis syndrome (SCS), a specific psychological state that precedes and may precipitate suicidal behavior. The feeling of entrapment is a central concept...

    Authors: Shuang Li, Zimri S. Yaseen, Hae-Joon Kim, Jessica Briggs, Molly Duffy, Anna Frechette-Hagan, Lisa J. Cohen and Igor I. Galynker

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2018 18:4

    Content type: Research article

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  7. People bereaved by suicide are at increased risk of suicide attempt and suicide, but explanations for these associations remain theoretical. It is possible that the experience of suicide bereavement modifies p...

    Authors: Alexandra Pitman, Hedvig Nesse, Nicola Morant, Valeriya Azorina, Fiona Stevenson, Michael King and David Osborn

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:400

    Content type: Research article

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  8. Despite high rates of youth suicide attempt, little is known about patterns of functional impairment in terms of sickness absence and disability pension (SA/DP) before and after an attempt. The aim was to iden...

    Authors: Mo Wang, Magnus Helgesson, Syed Rahman, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler and Ellenor Mittendorfer-Rutz

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:393

    Content type: Research article

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  9. Suicidal ideation has been identified as one of the major predictors of attempted or actual suicide. Routinely screening individuals for endorsing suicidal thoughts could save lives and protect many from sever...

    Authors: Sören Kliem, Anna Lohmann, Thomas Mößle and Elmar Brähler

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:389

    Content type: Research article

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  10. Although Primary care is crucial for suicide prevention, clinicians tend to report completed suicides in their care as non-preventable. We aimed to examine systemic inadequacies in suicide prevention from the ...

    Authors: Gerard Leavey, Sharon Mallon, Janeet Rondon-Sulbaran, Karen Galway, Michael Rosato and Lynette Hughes

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:369

    Content type: Research article

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  13. Suicide affects people from different backgrounds, ethnical groups, socio-economic status and geographical locations. In Latin America, suicide reports arescarce, specially in Andean countries. In Ecuador, ver...

    Authors: Esteban Ortiz-Prado, Katherine Simbaña, Lenin Gómez, Aquiles R. Henriquez-Trujillo, Fernando Cornejo-Leon, Eduardo Vasconez, Diana Castillo and Ginés Viscor

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:342

    Content type: Research article

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  14. Rates of suicide appear to be increasing, indicating a critical need for more effective prevention initiatives. To increase the efficacy of future prevention initiatives, we examined the spatial distribution o...

    Authors: Michelle Torok, Paul Konings, Philip J. Batterham and Helen Christensen

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:339

    Content type: Research article

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  16. Suicide by aggressive physical methods such as firearms, hanging, and jumping is well known; however, different factors may influence a person while selecting a particular method. The aim of this study was to ...

    Authors: Yosra Azizpour, Kourosh Sayehmiri, Khairollah Asadollahi, Satar Kaikhavani and Maryam Bagheri

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:304

    Content type: Research article

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  17. Online and mobile telephone applications (‘apps’) have the potential to improve the scalability of effective interventions for suicidal ideation and self-harm. The aim of this review was therefore to investiga...

    Authors: Katrina Witt, Matthew J. Spittal, Gregory Carter, Jane Pirkis, Sarah Hetrick, Dianne Currier, Jo Robinson and Allison Milner

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:297

    Content type: Research article

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  18. There is a critical need for empirical data concerning the association of personality traits and attempted suicide with and without psychiatric disorders in mainland China. The objective of the present study i...

    Authors: Bo Bi, Wei Liu, Die Zhou, Xu Fu, Xiaoxia Qin and Jiali Wu

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:294

    Content type: Research article

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  19. Suicide accounts for over 58,000 deaths in Europe per annum, where suicide attempts are estimated to be 20 times higher. Males have been found to have a disproportionately lower rate of suicide attempts and an...

    Authors: Aislinné Freeman, Roland Mergl, Elisabeth Kohls, András Székely, Ricardo Gusmao, Ella Arensman, Nicole Koburger, Ulrich Hegerl and Christine Rummel-Kluge

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:234

    Content type: Research article

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  20. Euthanasia for people who are not terminally ill, such as those suffering from psychiatric disorders or dementia, is legal in Belgium under strict conditions but remains a controversial practice. As yet, the p...

    Authors: Sigrid Dierickx, Luc Deliens, Joachim Cohen and Kenneth Chambaere

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:203

    Content type: Research article

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  21. Brief Admission is a crisis and risk management strategy in which self-harming and suicidal individuals with three or more diagnostic criteria of borderline personality disorder self-admit to hospital at times...

    Authors: Sophie I. Liljedahl, Marjolein Helleman, Daiva Daukantaité, Åsa Westrin and Sofie Westling

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:220

    Content type: Study protocol

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  22. Little is known of the appropriateness of existing gatekeeper suicide prevention programs for Indigenous communities. Despite the high rates of Indigenous suicide in Australia, especially among Indigenous yout...

    Authors: Bushra Nasir, Steve Kisely, Leanne Hides, Geetha Ranmuthugala, Sharon Brennan-Olsen, Geoffrey C. Nicholson, Neeraj S. Gill, Noel Hayman, Srinivas Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan and Maree Toombs

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:219

    Content type: Research article

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  23. The U.S. Army suicide attempt rate increased sharply during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Risk may vary according to occupation, which significantly influences the stressors that soldiers experience.

    Authors: Robert J. Ursano, Ronald C. Kessler, James A. Naifeh, Holly Herberman Mash, Carol S. Fullerton, Tsz Hin Hinz Ng, Pablo A. Aliaga, Gary H. Wynn, Hieu M. Dinh, James E. McCarroll, Nancy A. Sampson, Tzu-Cheg Kao, Michael Schoenbaum, Steven G. Heeringa and Murray B. Stein

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:194

    Content type: Research article

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  24. Sexual minority (SM) individuals (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or otherwise nonheterosexual) are at increased risk for mental disorders and suicide and adequate mental healthcare may be life-saving. However, SM pat...

    Authors: Martin Plöderl, Sabine Kunrath, Robert J. Cramer, Jen Wang, Larissa Hauer and Clemens Fartacek

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:184

    Content type: Research article

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  25. Ghana’s socio-cultural landscape proscribes suicidal behaviour, and this has serious ramifications for attempt survivors and their families. The objective of this qualitative study was to understand the experi...

    Authors: Winifred Asare-Doku, Joseph Osafo and Charity S. Akotia

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:178

    Content type: Research article

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  26. Suicide is the primary cause of unnatural death in Spain, and suicide re-attempts a major economic burden worldwide. The risk factors for re-attempt and suicide after an index suicide attempt are different.

    Authors: Isabel Parra-Uribe, Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla, Gemma Garcia-Parés, Luis Martínez-Naval, Oliver Valero-Coppin, Annabel Cebrià-Meca, Maria A. Oquendo and Diego Palao-Vidal

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:163

    Content type: Research article

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  28. Suicide rates in prison are high and their risk factors are incompletely understood. The objective of the present study is to measure the risk of suicide and its predictors in the only prison of multicultural ...

    Authors: Gülen Ayhan, Romain Arnal, Célia Basurko, Vincent About, Agathe Pastre, Eric Pinganaud, Dominique Sins, Louis Jehel, Bruno Falissard and Mathieu Nacher

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:156

    Content type: Research article

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  29. Globally, the second leading cause of death among adolescents is suicide and in middle-income countries adolescents’ suicidal ideation is a neglected public health area. The present study was conducted to dete...

    Authors: Reza Ziaei, Eija Viitasara, Joaquim Soares, Homayoun Sadeghi-Bazarghani, Saeed Dastgiri, Ali Hossein Zeinalzadeh, Farhad Bahadori and Reza Mohammadi

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:147

    Content type: Research article

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  32. Electrodermal reactivity has been successfully used as indicator of interest, curiosity as well as depressive states. The measured reactivity depends on the quantity of sweat secreted by those eccrine sweat gl...

    Authors: Marco Sarchiapone, Miriam Iosue, Vladimir Carli, Mario Amore, Enrique Baca-Garcia, Anil Batra, Doina Cosman, Philippe Courtet, Guido Di Sciascio, Ricardo Gusmao, Tadeusz Parnowski, Peter Pestality, Pilar Saiz, Johannes Thome, Anders Tingström, Marcin Wojnar…

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:108

    Content type: Study protocol

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  33. Patients with psychiatric disorders have a high rate of suicide. The present study investigated factors influencing hospital stays for Japanese patients with psychiatric disorders attempting suicide by jumping.

    Authors: Tsubasa Omi, Hiroshi Ito, Keisen Riku, Koji Kanai, Hiromune Takada, Satoshi Fujimi, Hidenori Matsunaga and Kazutaka Ohi

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:99

    Content type: Research article

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  34. Attempted suicide is a major public health problem, and the efficacies of current postvention protocols vary. We evaluated the effectiveness of telephone follow-up of patients referred to an emergency psychiat...

    Authors: Sophie Exbrayat, Clotilde Coudrot, Xavier Gourdon, Aurélia Gay, Jessica Sevos, Jacques Pellet, Béatrice Trombert-Paviot and Catherine Massoubre

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:96

    Content type: Research article

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  35. Economic recessions are often accompanied by increased levels of psychological distress and suicidal behaviour in affected populations. Little is known about the experiences of people seeking help for employme...

    Authors: M. C. Barnes, J. L. Donovan, C. Wilson, J. Chatwin, R. Davies, J. Potokar, N. Kapur, K. Hawton, R. O’Connor and D. Gunnell

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:84

    Content type: Research article

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  36. Depression is a strong risk factor for suicide and suicide attempt. Several studies have examined the pathway to suicide attempt, but few studies have considered aspects important for overcoming being suicidal...

    Authors: Lisa Crona, Margaretha Stenmarker, Agneta Öjehagen, Ulrika Hallberg and Louise Brådvik

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:69

    Content type: Research article

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  37. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disease which has been known to negatively influence the mental health of patients. However, only a few studies have explored the prevalence of psychiatric problems amo...

    Authors: Seulki Lee and Aesun Shin

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2017 17:3

    Content type: Research article

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  38. Clinical guidelines for suicide prevention often stress the identification of risk and protective factors as well as the evaluation of suicidal intent. However, we know very little about what psychiatrists act...

    Authors: Margda Waern, Niclas Kaiser and Ellinor Salander Renberg

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:440

    Content type: Research article

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  39. Patients with schizophrenia are known to have higher rates of mortality and morbidity when compared to the general population. Suicidality is a major contributor to increased mortality. The International Suici...

    Authors: Samer Hammoudeh, Suhaila Ghuloum, Ziyad Mahfoud, Mark Opler, Anzalee Khan, Arij Yehya, Abdulmoneim Abdulhakam, Azza Al-Mujalli, Yahya Hani, Reem Elsherbiny and Hassen Al-Amin

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:437

    Content type: Research article

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  40. Repeated self-harm represents the single strongest risk factor for suicide. To date no study with full national coverage has examined the pattern of hospital repeated presentations due to self-harm among young...

    Authors: Marco Bennardi, Elaine McMahon, Paul Corcoran, Eve Griffin and Ella Arensman

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:421

    Content type: Research article

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  41. A suicide cluster has been defined as a group of suicides that occur closer together in time and space than would normally be expected. We aimed to examine the extent to which suicide clusters exist among youn...

    Authors: Jo Robinson, Lay San Too, Jane Pirkis and Matthew J. Spittal

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:417

    Content type: Research article

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  43. Suicide is a leading cause of death among Indigenous youth worldwide. The aim of this literature review was to determine the cultural appropriateness and identify evidence for the effectiveness of current gate...

    Authors: Bushra Farah Nasir, Leanne Hides, Steve Kisely, Geetha Ranmuthugala, Geoffrey C. Nicholson, Emma Black, Neeraj Gill, Srinivas Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan and Maree Toombs

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:357

    Content type: Research article

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  44. Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a proposed new “condition for further study” in the DSM-5. To date no prevalence data has been available on this diagnostic entity from a representative sample of the general...

    Authors: Paul L. Plener, Marc Allroggen, Nestor D. Kapusta, Elmar Brähler, Jörg M. Fegert and Rebecca C. Groschwitz

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:353

    Content type: Research article

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  45. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds in China, and 60 % of suicidal patients have a history of depression. Previous brain imaging studies have shown that depression and suicid...

    Authors: Shuang Zhang, Jian-mei Chen, Li Kuang, Jun Cao, Han Zhang, Ming Ai, Wo Wang, Shu-dong Zhang, Su-ya Wang, Shi-jing Liu and Wei-dong Fang

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:337

    Content type: Research article

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  46. Even though migrants constitute a large proportion of the German population, there is a lack of representative studies on their mental health. Hence, the present study explored mental health characteristics an...

    Authors: Manfred E. Beutel, Claus Jünger, Eva M. Klein, Philipp Wild, Karl J. Lackner, Maria Blettner, Mita Banerjee, Matthias Michal, Jörg Wiltink and Elmar Brähler

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:288

    Content type: Research article

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  47. Suicidality is an individual behaviour caused by a complex framework of internal and external factors. The predictive values of personality traits for a suicide attempt have been demonstrated, especially in co...

    Authors: Ute Lewitzka, Sebastian Denzin, Cathrin Sauer, Michael Bauer and Burkhard Jabs

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:282

    Content type: Research article

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  48. Attitudes toward suicidal behaviour can be essential regarding whether patients seek or are offered help. Patients with suicidal behaviour are increasingly treated by mental health outpatient clinics. Our aim ...

    Authors: Astrid Berge Norheim, Tine K. Grimholt, Ekaterina Loskutova and Oivind Ekeberg

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:268

    Content type: Research article

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  49. The risk factors of suicidal ideation and attempts have been discussed in many researches. Few studies have examined reasons for living and hope as protective factors against suicide in a clinical population. ...

    Authors: Xingwei Luo, Qin Wang, Xiang Wang and Taisheng Cai

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:252

    Content type: Research article

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  50. Suicide is a leading cause of death in adolescence. Effective strategies are required to prevent suicide. We aimed to assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation in early teens and the relationship between fami...

    Authors: Kentaro Kawabe, Fumie Horiuchi, Marina Ochi, Yasunori Oka and Shu-ichi Ueno

    Citation: BMC Psychiatry 2016 16:231

    Content type: Research article

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