Prevalence Of Suicidal Thoughts Research Articles

Personal debt and suicidal ideation

Personal debt is one of many factors associated with anxiety, depression and suicidality. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between personal debt and suicidal ideation in the context of sociodemographic factors, employment and income, lifestyle behaviours, and recently experienced traumatic events. Interviews were conducted with a random probability sample comprising 7461 respondents for the third national survey of psychiatric morbidity of adults in England. Fieldwork was carried out throughout 2007. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts in the past week, past year and lifetime was assessed and current sources of debt were recorded. In 2007, 4.3% of adults in England had thought about taking their own life in the past 12 months, ranging from 1.8% of men aged ≥ 55 years to 7.0% of women aged 35-54 years. Those in debt were twice as likely to think about suicide after controlling for sociodemographic, economic, social and lifestyle factors. Difficulty in making hire purchase or mail order repayments and paying off credit card debt, in addition to housing-related debt (rent and mortgage arrears), was strongly associated with suicidal thoughts. Feelings of hopelessness partially mediated the relationship between debt and suicidal ideation. The number of debts, source of the debt and reasons for debt are key correlates of suicidal ideation. Individuals experiencing difficulties in repaying their debts because they are unemployed or have had a relationship breakdown or have heavy caring responsibilities may require psychiatric evaluation in addition to debt counselling.

Sexual Coercion, HIV-Related Risk, and Mental Health Among Female Sex Workers in China

We performed this study to examine the association of sexual coercion with HIV-related risk behaviors and suicidal thoughts and attempts among female sex workers (FSWs) in Guangxi, China. Four hundred fifty-four FSWs in 57 entertainment establishments (including shampooing salons, massage parlors, and restaurants) were interviewed between March and May 2004. Fifteen percent of the women reported having been coerced into sex in the last 6 months. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in the last 6 months were 14.3% and 8.4%, respectively. Sexual coercion was significantly associated with both an increased rate of HIV-related risk behavior, and suicidal thoughts and attempts among FSWs. Therefore, along with the awareness and intervention programs, efforts should be taken to reduce the exposure of FSWs to sexual coercion and to improve the mental health of FSWs.

The psychological health of sole mothers in Australia

To determine the psychological wellbeing of sole mothers in Australia. Cross-sectional analyses of survey data from The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. 9689 younger women (aged 22-27 years) surveyed in 2000 and 12 338 mid-age women (aged 47-52 years) surveyed in 1998. Demographic characteristics and economic status; prevalence of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and psychoactive medication use; depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) and psychological health (the Mental Health Component Score of the Medical Outcome Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]). Among the younger women, sole mothers were more likely than other women to have experienced suicidal thoughts (odds ratio [OR], 2.18; 95% CI, 1.45-3.27) and self-harm (OR, 3.25; 95% CI, 1.97-5.38). Among the younger and mid-age women, sole mothers were the group most likely to have used medication for depression (ORs, 2.75 [95% CI, 1.76-4.30] and 2.29 [95% CI, 1.56-3.37], respectively). They were more than twice as likely to have experienced depression, and had significantly poorer psychological health (P < 0.001). After adjusting for economic status, only depression and psychological health remained significantly associated with sole motherhood, and the strength of these relationships was reduced. Economic status partly accounts for the relatively poorer psychological health of sole mothers. Sole mothers are more likely than other women to experience debilitating psychological health problems.

Thinking life is not worth living. A population survey of Great Britain.

"Saving lives: our healthier nation" includes a target to reduce the death rate from suicide. Thoughts of suicide and feeling life is not worth living might be the first step in a pathway that can end in completed suicide. This study aims to identify factors associated with feeling life is not worth living amongst the household population of Great Britain, and to assess the strength of these associations after taking account of an individual's level of psychiatric morbidity. The 1993 OPCS National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys of Great Britain assessed psychiatric morbidity using the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule amongst a stratified, clustered probability sample of 9830 subjects representative of the British private household population aged 16-64. Of the sample 0.8 % (95 % CI 0.6 %-1 %) had thoughts of suicide in the week before interview and 3.1 % (95 % CI 2.7 %-3.5 %) reported thoughts of life not worth living in the week before interview. Psychiatric morbidity was most strongly associated with such thoughts. Ethnicity, marital status and low social support were strongly associated with such thoughts after adjusting for age, sex and psychiatric morbidity. Reducing psychiatric morbidity in the population as a whole might also decrease the frequency of suicidal thoughts. Policies which improve social support at a population level might also have a large impact on prevalence of suicidal thoughts.

Suicidal ideation among medical students and young physicians: a nationwide and prospective study of prevalence and predictors

Background: Despite an increased risk of suicide among physicians we lack studies on prevalence and predictors of suicidal ideation among medical students and young doctors. Method: A prospective study of Norwegian medical students ( n=522) re-examined after the first postgraduate year, comprising suicidal thoughts and attempts, perceived study stress, job stress, and personality. Results: The previous year prevalence of suicidal thoughts was 14% at both points of time. The lifetime prevalence was 43%, while 8% had planned suicide, and 1.4% had attempted suicide. Suicidal ideation in medical school was predicted by lack of control, personality trait, single marital status, negative life events and mental distress (anxiety and depression). In the first postgraduate year, mental distress was the most important predictor, but before controlling for this variable, job stress, vulnerability (neuroticism), single status, and less working hours were independent predictors. Prospectively, suicidal thoughts and vulnerability as student predicted postgraduate suicidal ideation. Conclusions: The level of suicidal thoughts was high, but the level of attempts was low. Clinical implications: Preventive efforts should be directed both at the students’ abilities to cope with stress and at mental health services for young doctors. Limitations of study: The lower response rate at follow-up (57%) may reduce external validity.

Prevalence of reported suicidal behaviour in the general population and mental health-care staff.

Higher rates of suicidal behaviour have been reported among staff in mental health care than in the general population. However, no studies of these two groups have been carried out simultaneously, using the same methods. This study aims to investigate whether they differ in terms of age- and sex-standardized prevalence of suicidal behaviour. Identical questions about suicidal behaviour were addressed in the same year to a random sample of the general population and to mental health-care staff in Stockholm. Life weariness among the latter was also investigated. Age- and sex-standardized past year prevalences of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts were found to be similar among mental health-care staff and the general population. Lifetime prevalence of both suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts was significantly higher among mental health-care staff than among the general population. Psychologists/social workers have a higher probability of: lifetime thoughts of life is not worth living; death wishes; and, suicidal thoughts, than nurses/assistant nurses. Reports on lifetime prevalence of suicidal behaviour may be biased in populations that are not reminded of these problems in everyday life. Data on past year prevalence of suicidal behaviour show clearly the similarity between the general population and the mental health-care staff.

Gender and Cultural Differences in the 12-Month Prevalence of Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts in Swedish and Turkish Adolescents

This study compared the prevalence rates of suicidal thoughts and attempts among 966 Swedish and 959 Turkish (N = 1925) high school students. Nearly equal percentages of Swedish (23.2%) and Turkish (25.7%) students reported having had thoughts of killing themselves during the past 12 months. Turkish students reported greater current suicidal ideation than their Swedish peers. Significantly more Turkish (4.6%) than Swedish (2.7%) students reported having made attempts to kill themselves during the past 12 months. The most common reasons for suicidal thoughts and attempts in both groups were psychological problems (feelings of depression, hopelessness, meaning-lessness, and emptiness).

Suicide attempts among adolescents in Switzerland: prevalence, associated factors and comorbidity.

Switzerland has one of the highest rates of adolescent suicide in Europe, but the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts is unknown. The objective of this paper is to assess the prevalence of suicidal ideation and behaviour among Swiss teenagers and to identify the factors associated with suicide attempts. A self-administered anonymous questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample of 9268 15- to 20-year-old adolescents attending school or college. Six items focused on suicidal ideation and conduct. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify the health variables associated with suicide attempts. About 55% of the adolescents had no suicidal concerns; 26% reported suicidal thoughts, 15% reported suicidal plans and 3% reported suicide attempts. Suicide attempters reported significantly more problems in four areas, namely health behaviour, life events, social relationships and mental health. In conclusion, many factors associated with suicide attempts represent detectable behaviours. Thus health professionals could use this knowledge to be more effective in suicide prevention among adolescents.

Suicidal behavior in schizophrenia and its relationship to awareness of illness.

Suicidal behavior is prevalent in individuals with schizophrenia. Although a relationship between greater awareness of illness and suicidal behavior has been posited, the question has not been systematically studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between suicidal behavior and various aspects of insight in 218 patients with schizophrenia. Patients who were participating in the DSM-IV field trial for schizophrenia were assessed with the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder and an instrument that was developed for the field trial study that measured multiple aspects of psychopathology, including suicidal behavior. The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behavior found in this study was consistent with previous published reports. Schizophrenia patients with recurrent suicidal thoughts and behavior were generally more aware of their negative symptoms and delusions than were nonsuicidal patients. Contrary to expectations, general awareness of having a mental disorder did not predict suicidal behavior. The notion that insight may be associated with greater suicidality was partially supported.

Suicidal ideation and young adults

SIR: The article by Patrick J. Meehan, M.D., and associates ( 1 ) brings up an important issue, namely, the high prevalence of suicidal thoughts in a normal population. Of 694 college freshmen/women in the sample, 54% had ever considered suicide, 10% had attempted it, and 3% sought help as a result of such attempts. Data presented but not discussed (table 1 of Dr. Meehan and associates’ article) show that 62% of women, compared with 44% of men, had ever considered suicide. Almost the same proportion of men (43%) and women (49%) had thought of specific ways to take their own lives. Another recent study corroborates these findings among high school students: 33% had thought of suicide, and 4.5% reported an attempt in the previous year (2). When half or more of a sizable, typical cohort exhibits a phenomenon associated with psychiatric morbidity and montality, how are we to view it? Not, I submit, by striving to eradicate suicidal thoughts per se, although a reduction in their prevalence might be a good thing. Instead, we might view the phenomenon as fairly typical of a stressful transition. Although a sign of pain, suicidal ideation may indicate health as much as illness. The refusal of suicide suggests a commitment, an engagement with life which is stronger than passive acquiescence. In the psychiatric history, I have come to regard episodes of suicidal ideation with concern, but not qualms, in most cases. It may be no more, and no less, than a pause at the mirror of philosophy: Is this life worth living? Even Albert Camus, who called it “the one truly serious philosophical problem,” remarked that suicide is rarely committed through reflection (3). The literature of autobiography abounds with instances of suicidal ideation followed by an affirmation oflife. Mark Twain wrote about putting a gun to his head at the age of 30: “Many times I have been sorry I did not succeed, but I was never ashamed of having tried” (4). A generation later in Freud’s Vienna, Otto Rank, at age 20, went through a similar crisis and wrote: “Afterwards there grew in me the greatest lust for life and courage towards death” (5). WilliamJames confronted suicide at 28, and wrote at 54, “I take it that no man is educated who has never dallied with the thought of suicide” (6). Many similar examples could be cited, i.e., Arthur Rubinstein, Graham Greene, Karen Homey . . . . Is the episode a sign or harbinger of pathology? I submit that we do not know and should be slow to assume so. Many young people today-close to half-have suicidal thoughts at least once. Epidemiological study may shed light on the psychiatric and social significance of the phenomenon. Meanwhile, we should be cautious about putting suicidal ideation on a single continuum of disease and death. The phenomenon may have as much on more to do with affirmation of life and immunity to actual suicide. It may be a part of normal, healthy adult development.