Suicide

Health outcomes are often determined by factors outside of the hospital and clinic. How can psychiatrists address mental health challenges before they become emergencies?

This renowned psychiatrist is donating a portion of the proceeds from his book sales to help stop US military veteran suicides.

Medical aid in dying is available for psychiatric patients in European countries and Canada. Will the United States be next?

Patients with terminal illnesses may choose to refuse treatment or even hasten their own deaths, but is that the same thing as suicide?

Will a new Canadian law overturn long-held ethical norms in psychiatry?

There are beautiful things that you can only see in the dark.

The pandemic has kept people apart. What are the mental health consequences of being alone? And what would be the benefits of getting back together?

Patients with cancer are at increased risk for both suicidal ideation and completed suicide. The authors discuss factors contributing to this increase in both biological and psychological realms.

Bisexual individuals are at 4.5 to 6 higher risk of self harming than heterosexual individuals, according to this online study.

When deep, emotional pain exceeds logic, suicidal thoughts come to fruition.

A time that should be full of happy events has turned sour.

There is a growing effort to standardize the evaluation and management of pediatric SSRDs, which have been reported as the second most common reason for consultation after suicide assessments.

More than half of physicians believe that seeking psychiatric care would jeopardize their employment. What can be done?

Unable to spend adequate time with patients, residents are not learning to function as doctors, but merely as technicians for the human body.

Imagine working with a young patient showing signs of psychosis for the past 6 weeks. Your initial assessment appears to rule out medical- or substance-induced etiologies, yet symptoms persist. What's a psychiatrist to do?

When concern for a patient is not so severe that a clinician feels compelled to call the police, there are options.

As a discipline, emergency psychiatry has widened its role, especially following the enormous mental health fallout from the pandemic and the shift of police and first-responder interventions.

Nicole Hockley, co-founder and managing director of Sandy Hook Promise, talks about the mental health strain COVID-19 has placed on youth.

New data out of Maryland includes some surprising numbers.

The period following arrest can be particularly dangerous, both in custody and in the community.

An innovative program sends mental health first responders out onto the streets.

What makes your patient feel good and what breaks them apart?

As typically happens in the aftermath of suicide—years or even decades later—we wonder what we could have said or should have seen.

Suicide attempts among pregnant or postpartum mothers have nearly tripled over the past decade.

A well-meaning mental health initiative may be setting unrealistic expectations.

Here are some statistics around suicide to help put things in perspective.

According to the National Veteran's Suicide Prevention Annual report of 2019, veterans are 1.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than non-veteran adults. Mental health professionals are uniquely positioned to help advocate for these individuals.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in people aged 15-24. Review how you can assess adolescents for suicidal ideation.

Issues of well-being, especially during a disaster or pandemic, are not going to disappear. Dr Cross Hansel talks suicide prevention week and how to get patients back to their pre-pandemic mental health state.