"Suicidal behavior" refers to actions or thoughts where a person wants to harm or end their own life.
Full definition
But how often do we involve people with lived experience
of suicidal behaviour in our suicide prevention activities?
The results suggested that those participants who exhibited higher levels of autistic traits were more at risk of
suicidal behaviour during their lifetime.
Responding to
suicidal behaviours involves a holistic approach by engaging key people in the child's life such as parents, carers, siblings, school staff and professionals.
We believe that the evident risk
of suicidal behaviour is likely to represent just the tip of the iceberg of mental suffering in these young cancer patients.
They took account of psychiatric history and they also looked more closely at the difference in
suicidal behaviour in women who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer or a precursor to cervical cancer (the equivalent of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3, or CIN3).
Senior co-author Professor Keith Hawton, from the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford, said: «Communication via the internet and other electronic means has potential roles in both contributing to and
preventing suicidal behaviour in young people.
The study aimed to identify risks of
subsequent suicidal behaviour among Northern Territory residents admitted to hospital with diagnoses of suicidal ideation and / or intentional self - harm and to describe the association between patterns of health service usage and these outcomes in order to identify opportunities for improved preventive follow - up care.
«As far as we are aware, this is the first study to look
at suicidal behaviour following a cancer diagnosis in adolescents and young adults.
Intermediate interventions such as the Resourceful Adolescent Parent Programme, Safe Alternatives for Teens and Youth Programme and attachment - based family treatment were effective in
reducing suicidal behaviour (effect size 0.72), suicide attempts (P = 0.01) and suicidal ideations (effect size 0.95), respectively in the short - term with an absence of long - term follow - up data.
The literature also points to alarming rates of abuse and victimisation of young non-heterosexual people and further, significantly higher rates of
suicidal behaviour when compared with heterosexual young people.
Women diagnosed with CIN 3 had a 2.5-fold increased risk of
suicidal behaviour compared to women without a diagnosis of CIN 3 and who were cancer - free.
Whether or not they go to see the relevant specialist depends largely upon the specific problem: around 63 % of the questioned adolescents with ADHS had been to see a specialist, barely 20 % in the case of eating disorders and even fewer in the case of
suicidal behaviour disorders (16.7 %) and non-suicidal, self - harming behaviour (10.0 %).
The academics say the psychological model can be used to predict people who will
exhibit suicidal behaviour — and once further developed could make a huge difference to creating effective assessment, support and treatment for people at risk of suicide.
«Since psychiatric illness is a serious and growing public health problem, it's important that we take early signs of psychiatric illness and
suicidal behaviour into consideration in suicide prevention,» says Jussi Jokinen, professor in psychiatry at Umeå University who led the current study.
The peak of
suicidal behaviour occurs in the year immediately after a cancer diagnosis and then declines, but the increased risk is constant after a diagnosis of CIN 3.
There have been even accusations saying that such programmes defeat their very purpose and «
normalize suicidal behaviour» by stating the latter occurs as a result of examination and school stress and pressures.
This study investigated the relationship
between suicidal behaviour and contact with mental health services among the elderly in Western Australia.
Despite the prevalence of family discord as an important risk factor for
youth suicidal behaviour, other controlled family intervention studies have failed to show efficacy to reduce suicidal tendencies.1 — 3 Several issues require consideration and suggest reasons for such apparent failures.
Association between biological
parental suicidal behaviour and adopted child psychiatric hospitalisation is moderated by adoptive parental psychiatric hospitalisation
Only fluoxetine has data from several trials.2 There is also concern that SSRIs may
increase suicidal behaviour in young people.3 While this needs further evaluation, alternatives to medication are needed.
«The shortcoming is, when these health needs are unmet, then suicide and
suicidal behaviours become more pronounced amongst Indigenous communities,» he said.
A review of published evidence on the effect of antidepressants
on suicidal behaviour and violence in healthy people is published in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine with the authors reporting «antidepressants double the occurrence of events in adult healthy volunteers that can lead to suicide and violence.»
The researchers suggest that this might be due to ongoing treatment for psychiatric problems, such as anti-depressants, which might help to
prevent suicidal behaviour.
All author royalties go to the charity Samaritans, to support its invaluable work of alleviating emotional distress and
reducing suicidal behaviour.