Briefly Noted

Abstract

Suicide prevention, neural circuits and computational psychiatry are at the forefront of the priorities of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Director Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., said at the virtual American Psychiatric Association (APA) Spring Highlights Meeting, Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Learning Network reported April 26. Suicide prevention is a high priority of the NIMH because suicide rates among both men and women have been consistently increasing in the United States for the past 20 years, Gordon said, noting that the reasons for the increase are unclear. The institute is funding research to better identify those who are at risk for dying by suicide, determine ways to evaluate and quantify that risk and develop interventions to reduce the risk, he said. One technique that could increase the identification of suicide risk is implementing universal screening procedures used by psychiatrists into emergency departments, Gordon said. The standard practice of emergency room physicians is to ask about suicide only if they suspect it, he noted. “We know that a majority of individuals who die by suicide will have visited emergency rooms over the past few months before they attempt suicide,” he said.