Key Research Findings

Our effectiveness in preventing suicide ultimately depends on more fully understanding how and why suicide occurs.

What we know about the causes of suicide lags far behind our knowledge of many other life-threatening illnesses and conditions. In part, this is because the stigma surrounding suicide has limited society’s investment in suicide research. Over the last 25 years, however, we have begun to uncover and understand the complex range of factors that contribute to suicide.
Summarized below are findings from research studies that have especially contributed to our current understanding of suicide.

Mental Disorders

While nearly all mental disorders have the potential to increase the risk for suicide, studies show that the most common disorders among people who die by suicide are major depression and other mood disorders, and substance use disorders, schizophrenia and personality disorders (Bertolote & Fleischmann, 2002). Much of what is known about the relationship between those underlying mental disorders and suicide has come from “psychological autopsy” studies. These in-depth investigations rely on interviews with family, close friends, and others who were in close contact with the person who died by suicide, in order to identify factors that likely contributed to the death. Such studies have consistently found that the overwhelming majority of people who die by suicide—90% or more—had a mental disorder at the time of their deaths. Often, however, these disorders had not been recognized, diagnosed, or adequately treated. Psychological autopsy studies have also shown that about one-third of people who took their lives did not communicate their suicide intent to anyone. One of the most important conclusions from this research is the importance of teaching laypeople to recognize the symptoms of mental disorders in those they are close to, so that they can support them to get help.
There are also important implications for primary care professionals. One large analysis of 40 separate postmortem studies found that 45% of those who died by suicide had seen a primary care provider within the month before their death, and 77% had such contact within the past year (Luoma, et al., 2002). Older adults who died by suicide were even more likely to have had recent contact with a primary care provider. By contrast, only about 30% of all those who died by suicide had receivedmental healthservices during the last year of life, and only 19% in the last month. These findings suggest that suicides may be reduced if primary care providers and their staffs were better able to recognize and treat (or refer for specialty care) patients who show signs of the mental disorders that are most commonly associated with suicide.
Among people who die by suicide, depression is more common than any other other disorder. Therefore, efforts to educate primary care providers about the diagnosis and treatment of depression are especially important. Research has shown that certain symptoms in the context of  depression raise the risk of suicide. These include intense anxiety, panic attacks, desperation, hopelessness, feeling that one is a burden, loss of interest and pleasure, and delusional thinking..