Youth Suicide

Prevention

High Risk For Suicide

• MALES at much higher risk than females

AMONG MALES:

• Previous Suicide Attempts
• Age 16 or over
• Associated Mood Disorder
• Associated Substance Abuse

AMONG FEMALES:

• Mood Disorders
• Previous Suicide Attempts
• IMMEDIATE RISK predicted by agitation and MDD

Possible Prevention Strategies:

1. Crisis Services (hotlines):

Lack efficacy:

• Teens don't use.
• Males don't use.
• Disturbed mental state before suicide.
• Impulsive suicide.

2. Educational Approaches:

There has been a considerable increase in the provision of suicide prevention programs for United States high school students. Most programs provide curricula directly to high school students. Goals are to:

• Increase awareness of the problem.
• Provide knowledge about the behavioral characteristics ("warning signs") of teens at risk for suicide.
• Describe available treatment or counseling resources.

Few programs subscribe to a model of suicide as a product of mental illness. Most assume that suicide follows from common environmental stresses and that all teenagers share a potential vulnerability to suicide.

However:

• Programs do not effectively increase knowledge or alter unwanted attitudes to suicide, nor increase help-seeking behavior.
• They are unselective and their audiences are predominantly not at risk for suicide.
• Problematic to expose the majority group, most of whom would not hope to obtain benefit from discussions about suicide.
• Stress model could help to reduce protective taboos.

3. Casefinding:

• Systematically screen teens to identify those who have made previous attempts or who are currently suicidal. Sensitive surveys that identify most teens at risk can be conducted that respect confidentiality.
• However, there will be many false positives, and these are costly.

4. Professional Education:

Training Medical Professionals in the appropriate use of antidepressant and mood-stabilizing drugs has been found to reduce the suicide rate at least among adults.