The latest medical research on Forensic Psychiatry
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Request AccessTorn between living or dying-analyses of influencing factors on suicide ambivalence and its longitudinally impact on suicidal ideation and behavior in a high-risk sample.
Suicide Life ThreatFindings on the role of suicide ambivalence, an individual's wish to live (WL), and wish to die (WD) in the development of suicidality have been heterogenous. The main goal of this study was to examine associations of these constructs within the past week with sociodemographic factors and to longitudinally investigate their predictive power for suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA).
N = 308 patients (54% female; M = 36.92 years, SD = 14.30), admitted to a psychiatric ward due to suicidality, were assessed for all constructs after admission, after six, nine, and 12 months. Data were analyzed with univariate fixed-effect models and lagged mixed-effect regression models.
Decreased, WL increased post-baseline. Gender showed no significant link to ambivalence, WD, and WL. Ambivalence and WD correlated negatively with age and positively with depressiveness. More participants in a relationship showed a WL compared with single/divorced/widowed participants. More single participants or those in a relationship showed ambivalence than divorced/widowed participants. More single participants showed a WD than participants in a relationship/divorced/widowed. Longitudinally, ambivalence and WD predicted SI and SA.
The findings underscore the importance of taking suicide ambivalence and WD into account in risk assessment and treatment.
Retraction: Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among gender and sexual minorities: Adults ages 25-44 show highest rates of past month suicidal thoughts. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior.
Suicide Life ThreatManges, M. E., Bryan, C. J., Bryan, AB. O., Bauder, C. R., Wastler, H. M. (2023). Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among gender and sexual minoritie...
Cognitive rehabilitation effects on grey matter volume and Go-NoGo activity in progressive multiple sclerosis: results from the CogEx trial.
Neurology, Neurosurgery and PsychiatryNCT03679468.
Participants were randomised to: 'CR plus EX', 'CR plus sham EX (EX-S)', 'EX plus sham CR (CR-S)' and 'CR-S plus EX-S' and attended 12-week intervention. All subjects performed physical/cognitive assessments at baseline, week 12 and 6 months post intervention (month 9). All MRI substudy participants underwent volumetric MRI and fMRI (Go-NoGo task).
104 PMS enrolled at four sites participated in the CogEx MRI substudy; 84 (81%) had valid volumetric MRI and valid fMRI. Week 12/month 9 cognitive performances did not differ among interventions; however, 25-62% of the patients showed Symbol Digit Modalities Test improvements. Normalised cortical grey matter volume (NcGMV) changes at week 12 versus baseline were heterogeneous among interventions (p=0.05); this was mainly driven by increased NcGMV in 'CR plus EX-S' (p=0.02). Groups performing CR (ie, 'CR plus EX' and 'CR plus EX-S') exhibited increased NcGMV over time, especially in the frontal (p=0.01), parietal (p=0.04) and temporal (p=0.04) lobes, while those performing CR-S exhibited NcGMV decrease (p=0.008). In CR groups, increased NcGMV (r=0.36, p=0.01) at week 12 versus baseline correlated with increased California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT)-II scores. 'CR plus EX-S' patients exhibited Go-NoGo activity increase (p<0.05, corrected) at week 12 versus baseline in bilateral insula.
In PMS, CR modulated grey matter (GM) volume and insular activity. The association of GM and CVLT-II changes suggests GM plasticity contributes to cognitive improvements.
Intentions to use mental health and suicide prevention resources among individuals with symptoms of the suicide crisis syndrome and/or suicidal ideation.
Suicide Life ThreatThe suicide crisis syndrome (SCS) has demonstrated efficacy in predicting suicide attempts, showing potential utility in detecting at-risk individuals who may not be willing to disclose suicidal ideation (SI). The present international study examined differences in intentions to utilize mental health and suicide prevention resources among community-based adults with varying suicide risk (i.e., presence/absence of SCS and/or SI).
A sample of 16,934 community-based adults from 13 countries completed measures about the SCS and SI. Mental health and suicide prevention resources were provided to all participants, who indicated their intentions to use these resources.
Individuals with SCS (55.7%) were just as likely as those with SI alone (54.0%), and more likely than those with no suicide-related symptoms (45.7%), to report willingness to utilize mental health resources. Those with SI (both with and without SCS) were more likely to seek suicide prevention resources (52.6% and 50.5%, respectively) than those without SI (41.7% and 41.8%); however, when examining endorsements for personal use, those with SCS (21.6%) were more likely to use resources than individuals not at risk (15.1%).
These findings provide insight into individuals' willingness to use resources across configurations of explicitly disclosed (SI) and indirect (SCS) suicide risk.
A comparison of the social cognition and neurocognitive characteristics of adolescents with suicide behavior, adolescent with depression and healthy controls.
Suicide Life ThreatDeficits in neurocognition and social-cognition have been suggested to be an endophenotype for suicidal behavior. We aimed to compare the social-cognition and neurocognitive characteristics of adolescents diagnosed with depression with and without suicidal behavior and to investigate whether these functions predict suicide.
Adolescents diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with suicidal behavior (n = 42); MDD without suicidal behavior (n = 44) and age- and sex-matched controls (n = 43) were included. The University of Pennsylvania Computerized Neurobehavioral Test Battery and Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) were used to evaluate social-cognition and neurocognitive characteristics.
Several neurocognitive domain values of MDD groups, were significantly different from the control group. Neutral emotion recognition task (p = 0.025) and ASSQ scores were found to be significantly impaired in the patient groups (p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that, only the increase in the Suicide Probability Scale score was found to be significant as a risk factor predicting suicide (p = 0.007, OR: 1.246).
While the neurocognitive and social-cognitive performances of adolescents with MDD were significantly lower than the control group, these performances in the two depression groups were similar. When the predictors of suicidal behavior were examined, it was found that only the increase in suicidal ideation scores predicted suicide.
Suicidal ambivalence: A scoping review.
Suicide Life ThreatSuicidal ambivalence is considered a characteristic condition of suicidal individuals. At the same time, there is a lack of a uniform definition, conception and assessment of suicidal ambivalence. On this background, the current scoping review aims to explore the extent, range, and nature of research activity on suicidal ambivalence and to summarize research findings.
A systematic literature search was conducted in four different databases (PubMed, Psychinfo, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) using an array of search terms (e.g., ambivalence, internal suicide debate, reasons for living and reasons for dying, wish to live and wish to die).
In total, 28 articles published between 1977 and 2023 were included in the scoping review. The study situation lacks a clear definition, conceptualization and operationalization of suicidal ambivalence. Nonetheless, suicidal ambivalence is a common experience in persons contemplating suicide and suicidal ambivalence seems to be present before, during and after a suicide attempt. Suicidal ambivalence is associated with diverse markers of negative/positive mental health as well as suicidal ideation and behavior.
Results point to the relevance of suicidal ambivalence. At the same time, there are large gaps in knowledge about the development, impact and therapeutic responsiveness of suicidal ambivalence.
Do people know how suicidal they will be? Understanding suicidal prospection.
Suicide Life ThreatLittle research has been done on how people mentally simulate future suicidal thoughts and urges, a process we term suicidal prospection.
Participants were 94 adults with recent suicidal thoughts. Participants completed a 42-day real-time monitoring study and then a follow-up survey 28 days later. Each night, participants provided predictions for the severity of their suicidal thoughts the next day and ratings of the severity of suicidal thoughts over the past day. We measured three aspects of suicidal prospection: predicted levels of desire to kill self, urge to kill self, and intent to kill self. We generated prediction errors by subtracting participants' predictions of the severity of their suicidal thoughts from their experienced severity.
Participants tended to overestimate (although the average magnitude was small and the modal error was zero) the severity of their future suicidal thoughts. The best fitting models suggested that participants used both their current suicidal thinking and previous predictions of their suicidal thinking to generate predictions of their future suicidal thinking. Finally, the average severity of predicted future suicidal thoughts predicted the number of days participants thought about suicide during the follow-up period.
This study highlights prospection as a psychological process to better understand suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Implementation of a countywide adult suicide review commission: Development, lessons learned, and recommendations.
Suicide Life ThreatFatality review is a public health approach designed to inform efforts to prevent fatalities of a certain kind (e.g., suicide, homicide) or in a specific setting or population (e.g., hospitals, youth). Despite extensive literature on fatality review generally, the literature on suicide review teams specifically is scant. The aim of this paper is to: describe the implementation of a local adult suicide review commission, detail examples of initial outcomes and recommendations developed by the commission, and provide recommendations and/or best practices for how to develop and implement an adult suicide review team.
We utilize framing questions from the American Association of Suicidology's psychological autopsy framework. By using these guiding questions in the discussion, members are invited to explore not only the stressors that may have more immediately preceded the suicide event itself, but to situate those stressors in the context of the individual's life course.
Several recommendations proposed by our commission have resulted in tangible outcomes and are detailed using Haddon's Matrix as a guiding prevention planning tool.
We have highlighted the need to move beyond looking at individual-level help-seeking to focus on structural/systemic issues that result in stress or create unsafe environments for at-risk individuals.
The Veterans Crisis Line: Relations among immediate call outcomes and treatment contact and utilization following the call.
Suicide Life ThreatCrisis line callers experience reductions in distress and suicidal ideation and utilize more health care following calls. The purpose of this study was to determine whether changes in distress and suicidal ideation during a call are associated with later healthcare contact and utilization.
Veterans Crisis Line calls from 599 veterans were extracted with call dates between 12/1/2018 and 11/30/2019. Calls were coded for changes in distress and suicidal ideation and linked with VA medical records to obtain healthcare data. Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling was used to examine the associations of changes in distress and suicidal ideation with healthcare contact (yes/no) and utilization (days of treatment) in the month (30 days) following the call.
Reductions in distress were associated with behavioral (i.e., mental and substance use) healthcare utilization, F(1, 596) = 4.52, p = 0.03, and reductions in suicidal ideation were associated with any healthcare utilization, F(1, 596) = 6.45, p = 0.01. Changes in distress and suicidal ideation were not associated with healthcare contact.
Responders need to help resolve distress and suicidal ideation and link callers with treatment. Unresolved distress and suicidal thoughts may signify later problems with treatment utilization. Research is needed to determine causality.
Why did peri-pandemic suicide death rates decrease among non-Hispanic white people while increasing among most people of color?
Suicide Life ThreatWhile suicides in the United States decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, statistically significant decreases have been limited to White people throughout a large portion of 2020.
This paper outlines possible explanations for racial/ethnic differences in suicidality in the early pandemic phases.
We propose both distal (i.e., tele-mental health usage, internet and technology access, employment protections, and economic security) and proximal (cultural beliefs, coping strategies, clustering, pulling together, and embracing life) factors that may have helped build and foster community and mental wellness. However, this paper argues these factors did not extend, or did not extend as much, to many communities of color.
We argue that these disparities are due to the myriad effects of discrimination and systemic racism, encapsulated broadly by the minority stress theory, and provide suggestions for relief and research.
Structural adverse childhood experiences associated with suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and repetitive nonsuicidal self-injury among racially and ethnically minoritized youth.
Suicide Life ThreatHigh rates of suicidal ideation (SI), suicide attempts (SA), and repetitive nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) among some ethnoracially minoritized United States youth populations may be related to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with structural roots.
Using the 2013-2019 Minnesota Student Surveys, we assessed associations of student-reported structural ACEs (parental incarceration, housing instability, food insecurity, and foster care involvement) with SI, SA, and repetitive NSSI within the past 12 months using multilevel logistic regression stratified by ethnoracial group (American Indian/Alaskan Native [AIAN], Hmong, other Asian, Black Latino, other Latino, Somali, other Black/African American [AA], Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander [NHPI], and multiracial), and adjusted for sex, grade, ACEs experienced within one's household, mental health treatment, and perceived safety.
Structural ACEs were strongly associated with increasing SI, SA, and NSSI. At ≥2 structural ACEs, repetitive NSSI rates ranged from 7% to 29% (female), 8% to 20% (male); SA rates ranged from 13% to 35% (female), 10% to 22% (male); and SI rates ranged from 31% to 50% (female), 20% to 32% (male). Black Latino, NHPI, AIAN, and Black/AA students most often reported structural ACE exposures.
Reducing structural ACEs may reduce SI, SA, and repetitive NSSI among ethnoracially minoritized youth populations. Disaggregating diverse youth groups revealed variations in these outcomes that remain hidden when subpopulations are aggregated.
Contribution of basal ganglia activity to REM sleep disorder in Parkinson's disease.
Neurology, Neurosurgery and PsychiatryRapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is one of the most common sleep problems and represents a key prodromal marker in Parkinson's disease (PD). It remains unclear whether and how basal ganglia nuclei, structures that are directly involved in the pathology of PD, are implicated in the occurrence of RBD.
Here, in parallel with whole-night video polysomnography, we recorded local field potentials from two major basal ganglia structures, the globus pallidus internus and subthalamic nucleus, in two cohorts of patients with PD who had varied severity of RBD. Basal ganglia oscillatory patterns during RBD and REM sleep without atonia were analysed and compared with another age-matched cohort of patients with dystonia that served as controls.
We found that beta power in both basal ganglia nuclei was specifically elevated during REM sleep without atonia in patients with PD, but not in dystonia. Basal ganglia beta power during REM sleep positively correlated with the extent of atonia loss, with beta elevation preceding the activation of chin electromyogram activities by ~200 ms. The connectivity between basal ganglia beta power and chin muscular activities during REM sleep was significantly correlated with the clinical severity of RBD in PD.
These findings support that basal ganglia activities are associated with if not directly contribute to the occurrence of RBD in PD. Our study expands the understanding of the role basal ganglia played in RBD and may foster improved therapies for RBD by interrupting the basal ganglia-muscular communication during REM sleep in PD.
