Suicide Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Suicide, including details on depression, causes, prevention, treatment, help.

Suicidality and its association with insight and neurocognition in taiwanese patients with bipolar I disorder in remission.

Yen CF, Cheng CP, Ko CH, Yen JY, Huang CF, Chen CS

Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

The aims of this study were to examine the relationships between suicidality, insight, and neurocognition in patients with bipolar I disorder who were in a remitted state. Using the Violence and Suicide Assessment Scale, we evaluated 96 patients with bipolar I disorder in remission to determine their suicidal ideations and attempts over the previous year. We also evaluated their level of insight by using the Schedule of Assessment of Insight (SAI) and its expanded version (SAI-E), as well as their neurocognitive function by a series of neurocognitive function tests. Insight and neurocognitive functions of bipolar subjects who had and who had no suicidal ideations or attempts over the previous year were compared. The results indicated that the remitted bipolar subjects who had suicidal ideations or attempts over the previous year had higher insight scores on all 3 SAI dimensions and on the SAI-E compared with those who had no suicidal ideations or attempts. However, no difference in any neurocognitive function was found between the 2 groups of remitted bipolar subjects. The results of this study suggest clinicians need to be particularly alert to the potential for suicide in bipolar patients with a high level of insight.

Published 16 June 2008 in J Nerv Ment Dis, 196(6): 462-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

Articles on Suicide published 3 June 2008:

Unusual self-electrocution simulating judicial electrocution by an adolescent.   Am J Forensic Med Pathol, 29(2): 167-9.

Electrocution is one of the rarest modes of suicide. In this case, one school going adolescent committed suicide by electrocution using bare electric wire. This is a rare case of suicidal death by applying live wires around the wrists, simulating the act of judicial electrocution. He positioned himself on armed chair and placed the nude wire loops from a cable around both wrists and switched on the current by plugging in to nearest socket by foot. There were linear electric contact wounds ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Orbitofrontal cortex response to angry faces in men with histories of suicide attempts.   Am J Psychiatry, 165(6): 740-8.

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to elucidate the functional neural basis of the neurobiological abnormalities underlying the vulnerability to suicidal behavior. METHOD: Event-related functional MRI was used to measure neural activity in response to angry and happy versus neutral faces. Thirteen currently euthymic men with a history of major depressive disorder and suicidal behavior were compared with 14 currently euthymic men with a history of major depressive disorder but not of suicidal acts ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 16 May 2008:

Association of limbic system-associated membrane protein (LSAMP) to male completed suicide.   BMC Med Genet, 9: 34.

BACKGROUND: Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated volumetric abnormalities in limbic structures of suicide victims. The morphological changes might be caused by some inherited neurodevelopmental defect, such as failure to form proper axonal connections due to genetically determined dysfunction of neurite guidance molecules. Limbic system-associated membrane protein (LSAMP) is a neuronal adhesive molecule, preferentially expressed in developing limbic system neuronal dendrites and somata. Some ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 14 May 2008:

Suicide methods in Europe: a gender-specific analysis of countries participating in the "European Alliance Against Depression".   J Epidemiol Community Health, 62(6): 545-51.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the most frequent gender-specific suicide methods in Europe. DESIGN: Proportions of seven predominant suicide methods utilised in 16 countries participating in the European Alliance Against Depression (EAAD) were reported in total and cross-nationally. Relative risk (RR) relating to suicide methods and gender was calculated. To group countries by pattern of suicide methods, hierarchical clustering was applied. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Data on suicide methods for 119,122 ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 13 May 2008:

Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders and suicide attempts in diverse lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations.   Am J Public Health, 98(6): 1004-6.

Past studies have reported little about variability in mental disorders among lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals. We assessed the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in 388 lesbian, gay, and bisexual Black, Latino, and White individuals. Black lesbians, gay men, and bisexual individuals had lower prevalence of all disorders than did Latino and White individuals; younger cohorts had fewer mood disorders than did older cohorts; bisexual persons had more substance use disorders than did ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 12 May 2008:

Determinants and outcomes of serious attempted suicide: a nationwide study in Finland, 1996-2003.   Am J Epidemiol, 167(10): 1155-63.

Suicide is among the 10 leading causes of death. Attempted suicide is 10-40 times more frequent than completed suicide and is the strongest single predictor of subsequent suicide. The current study population included all persons in Finland who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of attempted suicide between 1996 and 2003 (N = 18,199). Information on background variables and mortality was obtained by register linkage. The risk of repeated attempted suicide was 30% and the risk of suicide was ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 25 April 2008:

Population attributable fractions of psychiatric disorders and suicide ideation and attempts associated with adverse childhood experiences.   Am J Public Health, 98(5): 946-52.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the fractions of psychiatric disorders and suicide ideation and attempts in a general population sample attributable to childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing domestic violence. METHODS: Data were obtained from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Population attributable fractions were calculated to determine the proportion of psychiatric disorders and suicide ideation and attempts attributable to adverse childhood experiences. The ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Suicide published 15 April 2008:

Depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and acne: a study of male Finnish conscripts.   J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol, 22(5): 561-7.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association among acne, depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in Finnish male military conscripts. METHODS: Consecutive 165 acne patients and 150 patients with mild knee symptoms for comparison were enrolled in the study conducted in the Central Military Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. They filled out the following questionnaires: General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and Rosenberg ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

© 2004-2008 Suicide Research Today. All Rights Reserved.