Publications - Suicide

Teen Suicide Attempts Down in States with Same-Sex Marriages, by Rick Nauert, PhD, Psych Central, Feb 21 2017.

“A new research study finds that the implementation of state laws legalizing same-sex marriage was associated with a significant reduction in the rate of suicide attempts among high school students...The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, estimate that state-level, same-sex marriage policies were associated with more than 134,000 fewer adolescent suicide attempts per year...The results show the effect that social policies can have on behavior, the researchers say. ”

Veteran Teaches Therapists How To Talk About Gun Safety When Suicide's A Risk, by April Dembosky , NPR, Feb 9 2017.

“Suicide is often an impulsive act. Nearly half the people who survive an attempt say the time between their first thought of suicide and the attempt itself was less than 10 minutes. But the method can mean the difference between life and death: People who take pills have time to change their minds, or may still be alive when discovered. That's not the case with guns. Almost 70 percent of veterans who commit suicide do so with a gun, which prompted President Barack Obama to order the VA to talk to vets about gun safety and storage options like the ones Zimmerman uses. ”

Being incarcerated as a juvenile tied to poor health years later, by Andrew M. Seaman , Reuters, Jan 23 2017.

“People incarcerated as juveniles may have worse physical and mental health as adults than youths who did not spend time in detention centers or correctional facilities, according to a new study...The magnitude of the increased health risks was tied to the time people spent incarcerated, researchers found. About 1.3 million children under age 18 years are arrested each year, write the researchers in Pediatrics. Of those, 46 percent require some type of immediate medical attention. Additionally 70 percent of incarcerated children have at least one psychiatric disorder...'Like most things in life, the experiences they have as a young person seem to carry over into their adult years,' said Ralph DiClemente, of Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. ”

Pets Help People Manage The Pain Of Serious Mental Illness, by Erin Ross , NPR, Dec 9 2016.

“Any pet owner will tell you that their animal companions comfort and sustain them when life gets rough. This may be especially true for people with serious mental illness, a study finds. When people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were asked who or what helped them manage the condition, many said it was pets that helped the most.  [...] Many people with serious mental illness live at home and have limited contact with the health care system, says Helen Brooks, a mental health researcher at University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and the lead author on the study, which was published Friday in the journal BMC Psychiatry. So they're doing a lot of the work of managing their conditions. ”

Young Adolescents as Likely to Die From Suicide as From Traffic Accidents, by Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, Nov 3 2016.

“That grim fact was published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 had caught up to their death rate for traffic accidents. ”

Veterans may face higher risk of suicide during first year home, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Oct 27 2016.

“Veterans may be more likely to commit suicide during the first year after they leave the military than after more time passes, a U.S. study suggests.  Compared with people still on active duty in the military, veterans out of the service for up to three months were 2.5 times more likely to commit suicide, the study found. Veterans who had left the service from three to 12 months earlier had almost triple the suicide odds of current members of the military. ”

Racial disparity emerges in rare child suicide rates, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Sep 20 2016.

“There has been a disturbing increase in suicide rates among elementary school-age black children in recent years in the United States...When compared with early adolescents, younger children who die by suicide are more likely to be black boys who hang or suffocate to death, suggests a new paper published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday. ”

More Child Suicides Are Linked to A.D.D. Than Depression, Study Suggests, by Catherine Saint Louis, The New York Times, Sep 19 2016.

“Attention deficit disorder is the most common mental health diagnosis among children under 12 who die by suicide, a new study has found...Suicide prevention has focused on identifying children struggling with depression; the new study provides an early hint that this strategy may not help the youngest suicide victims. ”

Intense Pressure to Succeed, Social Connectedness Ups Risk of Suicide Clusters, by Traci Pedersen, Psych Central, Sep 10 2016.

“Living in a community with intense pressure to succeed and a high degree of social connectedness can increase suicide risk, particularly among teenagers, according to a new study by sociologists at the University of Chicago and University of Memphis. ”

6 Myths About Suicide That Every Educator And Parent Should Know, by Kavitha Cardoza , NPR, Sep 2 2016.

“Every day, thousands of teens attempt suicide in the U.S. — the most extreme outcome for the millions of children in this country who struggle with mental health issues...schools play a key role, along with parents and medical professionals, in identifying children who may be at risk of suicide. And one of the biggest challenges: myths that can cloud their judgment. ”

Teen Bullies And Their Victims Both Face A Higher Risk Of Suicide, by Alison Kodjak, NPR, Jun 28 2016.

“Bullying and cyberbullying are major risk factors for teen suicide. And both the bullies and their victims are at risk. That's according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that urges pediatricians and family doctors to routinely screen teenagers for suicide risks. ”

Teen checkups should include suicide risk screening, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Jun 27 2016.

“Suicide is among the leading causes of death in U.S. adolescents and while it’s not entirely preventable, doctors can minimize the risk by asking the right questions during routine checkups, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.   Pediatricians should ask about mood disorders, use of drugs and alcohol, suicidal thoughts, bullying, sexual orientation and other risk factors for suicide as part of a routine conversation about medical history, the AAP notes in treatment guidelines released today. ”

As Suicide Rates Rise, Scientists Find New Warning Signs, by Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal, Jun 7 2016.

“Scientists are making headway in the search for solutions to one of the most vexing problems in mental health: How to predict who is at risk for suicide. Researchers are hunting for so-called biomarkers, such as patterns of brain activity on fMRI scans or levels of stress hormones in the blood, linked to suicidal thoughts and acts. They are creating computer algorithms, fed with tens of thousands of pieces of data, to come up with measures of risk. They are looking at sleep patterns and even responses to specialized computer tasks that can reveal unconscious biases toward self-harm. ”

Psychotherapy should be first choice to treat chronic insomnia, by Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, May 3 2016.

“People with chronic insomnia should try cognitive behavioral therapy before medications, suggests a prominent group of U.S. doctors.   While the American College of Physicians (ACP) can't say cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) outperforms medications for chronic insomnia, the group does say psychotherapy is less risky than drugs. ”

Suicide Rates Climb In U.S., Especially Among Adolescent Girls, by Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR, Apr 22 2016.

“In the '80s and '90s, America's suicide trend was headed in the right direction: down. "It had been decreasing almost steadily since 1986, and then what happened is there was a turnaround," says Sally Curtin, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The suicide rate has risen by a quarter, to 13 per 100,000 people in 2014 from 10.5 in 1999, according to an analysis by Curtin and her colleagues that was released Friday. ”