Although a considerable number of studies have indicated that the rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) are high, no systematic review has been undertaken to ...explore the strength and patterns of the relationship between suicidality and BDD. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis which aimed to examine the association between BDD and suicidality and the mechanisms underlying suicidality in BDD. Searches of five bibliographic databases including Medline, PsychINFO, Embase, Web of Science and CINAHL, were conducted from inception to June 2015. Seventeen studies were included in the review. Meta-analyses were performed using random effect models to account for the high levels of heterogeneity in the data. A positive and statistically significant association was found between BDD and suicidality (OR=3.63, 95% CI=2.62 to 4.63). Subgroup analyses showed that BDD was associated with increased odds for both, suicide attempts (OR=3.30, 95% CI=2.18 to 4.43) and suicidal ideation (OR=2.57, 95% CI=1.44 to 3.69). The evidence concerning suicide deaths in BDD was scarce. BDD-specific factors and comorbid diagnoses of Axis I disorders were likely to worsen suicidality in BDD. However, the modest number, and the low methodological quality, of the studies included in this review suggest caution the interpretation of these findings.
•The association between a diagnosis of BDD and suicidality was examined.•The meta-analysis confirmed that suicidality in BDD is an important concern.•BDD is more strongly linked to suicidality than other related illnesses including OCD and anorexia nervosa.•There is lack of evidence about the psychological mechanisms of suicidality in BDD.
Abstract Objective A considerable number of studies have reported an increased frequency of suicidal behaviors among individuals diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aims, ...first, to provide a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between a PTSD diagnosis and frequency of suicidality and, second, to examine the role of comorbid depression in the association between suicidality and PTSD. Methods Searches of Medline (June 2010), EMBASE (June 2010), PsycINFO (June 2010), PILOTS (June 2010), and Web of Science (June 2010) were conducted to identify studies that examined the association between PTSD and suicidality. The studies had to include an effect size of the association between PTSD and suicidality to be included in the meta-analysis. Sixty-three studies were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Overall and subgroup effect sizes were examined. Results A highly significant positive association between a PTSD diagnosis and suicidality was found. The PTSD-suicidality association persisted across studies using different measures of suicidality, current and lifetime PTSD, psychiatric and nonpsychiatric samples, and PTSD populations exposed to different types of traumas. Comorbid major depression significantly compounded the risk for suicide in PTSD populations. Conclusion The current meta-analysis provides strong evidence that a PTSD diagnosis is associated with increased suicidality. The crucial role of comorbid major depression in the etiology of suicidality in PTSD is also supported.
It is important to understand the psychological factors which underpin pathways to suicidal experiences. It is equally as important to understand how people develop and maintain resilience to such ...psychological factors implicated in suicidal experiences. Exploring optimal routes to gaining this understanding of resilience to suicidal thoughts and acts in people with severe mental health problems, specifically non-affective psychosis, was the overarching aim of this position paper. There are five central suggestions: 1. investigating resilience to suicidal experiences has been somewhat over-looked, especially in those with severe mental health problems such as schizophrenia; 2. it appears maximally enlightening to use convergent qualitative, quantitative and mixed research methods to develop a comprehensive understanding of resilience to suicide; 3. relatedly, involving experts-by-experience (consumers) in suicide research in general is vital, and this includes research endeavours with a focus on resilience to suicide; 4. evidence-based models of resilience which hold the most promise appear to be buffering, recovery and maintenance approaches; and 5. there is vast potential for contemporary psychological therapies to develop and scaffold work with clients centred on building and maintaining resilience to suicidal thoughts and acts based on different methodological and analytical approaches which involve both talking and non-talking approaches.
Purpose
There is growing evidence in the literature that a diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an important contributory factor to suicidality in adolescents. However, there is no ...existing review of the literature examining the relationship between PTSD and suicidality in adolescents. This study aims to provide the first systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between PTSD and suicidality in adolescents.
Methods
Five bibliographic databases (Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science and PILOT) were screened for suitable articles. Twenty-eight studies (which provided 28 independent samples) were included in the review. The overall meta-analyses of the association between PTSD and suicidality were followed by subgroup and meta-regression analyses.
Results
A highly significant positive association was found between PTSD and suicidality (
d
= 0.701, 95 % CI 0.555–0.848). The subgroup and meta-regression analyses showed that the association between PTSD and suicidality persisted whilst adjusting for various sources of between-study heterogeneity, such as, different levels of severity of suicidality, target groups, and methodological quality of the studies.
Conclusions
Suicidality in adolescents with PTSD is a major problem which requires further research effort. The implications of these results are discussed.
Research has shown an increased frequency of suicidal behaviors in those with PTSD, but few studies have investigated the factors that underlie the emergence of suicidal behavior in PTSD. Two ...theories of suicide, the Cry of Pain and the Schematic Appraisal Model of Suicide, propose that feelings of hopelessness, defeat, and entrapment are core components of suicidality. This study aimed to examine the association between suicidal behavior and hopelessness, defeat, and entrapment in trauma victims with and without a PTSD diagnosis. The results demonstrated that hopelessness, defeat, and entrapment were significantly positively associated with suicidal behavior in those with PTSD. Hopelessness and defeat were also significantly positively associated with suicidal behavior in trauma victims without PTSD. In those with PTSD, the relationship between suicidal behavior and hopelessness and entrapment remained significant after controlling for comorbid depression. The findings provide support for the contemporary theories of suicidality and have important clinical implications.
Suicide is a leading cause of death globally. People with psychosis are at increased risk of suicide death and up to half experience suicidal thoughts and/or engage in suicidal behaviors in their ...lifetime. Talking therapies can be effective in alleviating suicidal experiences. However, research is yet to be translated into practice, demonstrating a gap in service provision. The barriers and facilitators in therapy implementation require a thorough investigation including the perspectives of different stakeholders such as service users and mental health professionals. This study aimed to investigate stakeholders' (health professionals and service users) perspectives of implementing a suicide-focused psychological therapy for people experiencing psychosis in mental health services.
Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 20 healthcare professionals and 18 service users were conducted. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed and managed using reflexive thematic analysis and NVivo software.
For suicide-focused therapy to be successfully implemented in services for people with psychosis, there are four key aspects that need to be considered: (i) Creating safe spaces to be understood; (ii) Gaining a voice; (iii) Accessing therapy at the right time; and (iv) Ensuring a straightforward pathway to accessing therapy.
Whilst all stakeholders viewed a suicide-focused therapy as valuable for people experiencing psychosis, they also recognize that enabling successful implementation of such interventions will require additional training, flexibility, and resources to existing services.
Suicide prevention is a global priority. Psychiatric hospitalization presents an opportunity to intervene positively with, for example, psychological therapies. However, evidenced-based ...suicide-prevention psychological treatments are rarely available on in-patient wards. Understanding staff engagement with research investigating suicide-prevention psychological treatments is crucial for their effective, efficacious, and pragmatic implementation. A pilot randomised control trial and feasibility study of Cognitive Behavioural Suicide Prevention therapy provided the opportunity for a qualitative investigation of staff experiences and views of a psychological intervention for people with suicidal experiences on psychiatric in-patient wards.
To investigate staff acceptability of Cognitive Behavioural Suicide Prevention therapy for psychiatric inpatients based on their perceptions of their experiences during the conduct of a clinical trial.
Transcribed audio-recordings of qualitative interviews and a focus group (n = 19) of purposively sampled staff from eight psychiatric wards were analysed using inductive Thematic Analysis.
Facilitators and barriers were identified for: i) the conduct of the research, and, ii) the suicide-prevention intervention (Cognitive Behavioural Suicide Prevention therapy). Research-related barriers comprised communication difficulties between staff and researchers, and increased staff workload. Research-related facilitators included effective staff/researcher relationships, and alignment of the intervention with organisational goals. Suicide-prevention intervention-related barriers comprised staffs' negative beliefs about suicide which impacted on their referral of inpatients to the clinical trial, and staff perceptions of insufficient information and unfulfilled expectations for involvement in the therapy. Facilitators included staff beliefs that the therapy was beneficial for inpatients, the service and their own clinical practice.
Staff beliefs that 'suicide-talk' could precipitate suicidal behaviour resulted in covert gatekeeping and restricted referral of only inpatients judged as stable or likely to engage in therapy, which may not be those who could most benefit. Such threats to sample representativeness have implications for future therapy research design. The findings provide novel information for researchers and practitioners regarding the conduct of psychological treatment and research in psychiatric units.
Although nightmares appear to be related to suicidal behaviors, the mechanisms which underpin this relationship are unknown. We sought to address this gap by examining a multiple mediation hypothesis ...whereby nightmares were predicted to have an indirect effect on suicidal behaviors through perceptions of defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness.
Data were collected from 91 participants who had experienced trauma and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nightmares were measured by summing the frequency and intensity ratings of relevant items on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. Participants also completed questionnaire measures of suicidal behavior, hopelessness, defeat, and entrapment. Given the interrelations between insomnia, PTSD, and suicide, a measure of insomnia was included as a covariate. Furthermore, analyses were conducted with and without those participants who had comorbid depression.
Suicidal behaviors were higher in those participants who experienced nightmares (62%), in comparison to those who did not (20%). Bootstrapped analyses provided support for the hypothesized multistep mediational model. Specifically, nightmares were both directly and indirectly associated with suicidal behaviors, through perceptions of defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness, independent of comorbid insomnia and depression.
For the first time we show that the relationship between nightmares and suicidal behaviors is partially mediated by a multistep pathway via defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness. Clinically, our work highlights the importance of monitoring and targeting nightmares and perceptions of defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness when working with clients who have experienced trauma.
A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 289.
Contemporary theories of suicide, such as the Schematic Appraisals Model (SAMS), hypothesize that negative perceptions of social support are implicated in the pathways to suicidal experiences. The ...SAMS predicts that perceived social support influences suicidal ideation through appraisals of defeat and entrapment. However, such pathways have not been investigated in people who have bipolar disorder. This prospective four-month study tested the influence of perceived social support on later suicidal ideation via changes in defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness, in a sample of eighty euthymic participants with bipolar disorder (
= 62 at follow-up). Linear regression models tested the extent to which perceived social support at baseline predicted changes in suicidal ideation at four months directly and indirectly via changes in defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness. Perceived social support did not directly predict changes in suicidal ideation, but there was a significant indirect mediational pathway between perceived social support at baseline and changes in suicidal ideation over time, via changes in defeat, entrapment and hopelessness, supporting the SAMS. Psychological interventions which target negative perceptions of social support early, in tandem with addressing defeat, entrapment, and hopelessness over time, present a potentially effective approach to counter suicidal ideation in people who experience bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder is associated with high rates of suicidal thoughts, behaviors, and outcomes, yet the lived experience of suicidality and Bipolar Disorder is not particularly well understood. ...Understanding the role of psychosocial aetiologies in suicidality outcomes for those living with Bipolar Disorder is key for developing appropriately targeted interventions focusing on factors that are amenable to change. In line with PRISMA guidance, we conducted a scoping review to identify the types of psychosocial factors studied in relation to the experience of suicidality for people living with Bipolar Disorder diagnoses. Systematic literature searches identified a sample of 166 articles from which key study data were extracted and charted. A narrative synthesis of the reviewed literature is presented ordered by the factors investigated across studies, a frequency count of the types of psychological/social aetiologies studied, and a brief overview of the key findings for each aetiology. Most of the identified literature took the form of quantitative cross-sectional studies, with only one qualitative study and 18 quantitative prospective studies. The most studied aetiologies were trauma (specifically early adverse experiences and childhood traumas) and stressful life events, impulsivity (primarily subjective self-reported trait impulsivity), social support and functioning, and personality/temperament factors. Only six studies in the final sample reported basing their research questions and/or hypotheses on an explicit theoretical model of suicide. The literature was primarily focused on using self-report measurements of key aetiologies and on factors which lead to worsened suicidality rather than focusing on potentially protective or buffering factors. Future research needs to better justify the aetiologies investigated in relation to suicidality outcomes for people living with Bipolar Disorder, including a firmer basis in theory and hypothesis testing, more prospective designs, and the use of alternative assessments of psychosocial aetiologies in addition to self-report questionnaires.
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