Suicidal Behaviours Flashcards
suicidal ideation, attempt, and suicide
Ideation - thoughts about causing intention self-injury/death, intent is essential component
attempt - acts that cause intentional self injury
suicide - death
**This is NOT a disorder, it’s a symptom
sex differences
sex: suicide is 2X higher for boys, because of methods used and specific comorbid diagnoses (ODD/CD, substance use). suicide ATTEMPTS and thoughts are 2X+ higher in girls
age differences
suicidal behs in young children (3-6yrs) are not common, in school-aged thoughts are 15%, attempts 3%
suicidal thinking peaks at age 16, suicides peak in early 20s and then stabilize across adulthood
psychiatric diagnoses as risk factors
attempts most common in Major depression and bipolar. other diagnoses as risk factors are conduct disorder, substance use disorder (specifically alcohol use)
some youth who die by suicide do not meet diagnostic criteria for any disorder
how are MHPs linked to SBs (Orri et al.)
MHPs separately: each MHP related to all 3 suicide-related variables
MHPs together (comorbidity impt): depression and anxiety were related to passive & serious suicidal ideation; depression and conduct probs related to suicide attempts
risk factors for SB (list)
- biological
- psychological
- situational
biological risk factors
family/twin/adoption show genetic transmission; dysregulation of HPA axis, biochemical abnormalities (altered serotonin/dopamine functioning)
psychological risk factors
previous attempt(s), severe/persistent ideation, history of NSSI behs, hopelessness, impulsivity, ineffective coping strategies (rumination)
situational risk factors
a) stressful events; b) family functioning/history, esp. fam history of SB; c) social relationships/isolation; d) access to lethal methods
suicidal youth can present w/ many factors, w/ diff factors more prominent in individual youth
risk factor patterns by race/ethnicity
by race/ethnicity, interpersonal probs (not psychiatric diagnoses) most common risk factor for all groups except for white female adols. White youth had higher rate of past suicidal ideation.
Black youth less likely to have made past attempt, Indigenous youth most likely to have experienced death/suicide of loved one
3 main results from Chandler’s research
1) people DON’T commit suicide bc we dev. sense of continuity/persistence during adolescence, link us to past/future
2) it occurs more in young ppl bc youth struggle to or don’t dev. sense of continuity during identity dev. they become less put off by suicide - think “what’s the point?”
3) why so much in Indigenous youth? it’s prob in some communities, not all. Indigenous communities w/ low/0 suicide rates have sense of cultural continuity - ties to past, local control over comm. mngmt and services
characteristics of black youth suicides (Sheftall)
suicide rates for black school-aged children (5-11yrs) and youth (12-14 and 15-17yrs) inc. every year from 2003-2017
- 15-17yrs show biggest inc; rates for boys always higher but inc a lot for girls, gas is smaller
2 main factors that makes suicide diff for black youth
racism and discrimination - this chronic race-related stressor contributes to negative mental health that impairs insight/judgement about options beyond suicide
- police brutality, exposure to violence, hopelessness, etc
AND
even higher mental health stigma and suicide taboo in black communities
- may prompt some youth to do activities that have high risk of lethal outcomes to avoid cultural shame/stigma (ex: self destruction, daring police officer to shoot them)
5 suicide facts from Schechter
1) suicide attempts are a cry for help - FALSE! many feel they have no other options left
2) if you stop someone’s attempt, they find another way - FALSE, many attempts are impulsive
3) a person who wants to die will do it eventually - FALSE, for many it’s transient exp, can go on to live live, recover, etc
4) a lot of people have suicidal thoughts - TRUE, common throughout life to have passive thoughts. 1/5 high schoolers
5) if you ask someone about suicide, it puts the idea in their head - FALSE, if someone feels alone, better to talk to them, reduces risk, they want to feel less alone
