Suicide
00:00 / 00:00
Videos
Notes
Suicide
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Psychological disorders
Assessments
Suicide
Flashcards
0 / 17 complete
USMLE® Step 1 questions
0 / 5 complete
Flashcards
Suicide
of complete
Questions
USMLE® Step 1 style questions USMLE
of complete
Memory Anchors and Partner Content
External References
First Aid
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
Alcohol use
suicide and p. 585
Depression
suicide and p. 585
Substance abuse
suicide and p. 585
Suicidal patients p. 274
confidentiality exceptions and p. 270
elderly p. 270
Suicide
bipolar disorder and p. 584
borderline personality disorder and p. 588
deaths from p. 277
major depressive disorder and p. 584
physician-assisted p. 274
risk factors for p. 585
schizophrenia and p. 583
Suicide (physician-assisted) p. 274
External Links
Transcript
Contributors
Every 40 seconds someone around the world dies by suicide.
The US Centers for Disease Control cite suicide as the second leading cause of death among individuals aged 15 to 34, right after unintentional injuries like car crashes.
And it’s a major cause of death among the elderly as well.
In fact, for every one that dies by suicide, there are over 20 others that have attempted suicide!
Now, prior to any suicide or attempted suicide, a person usually has suicidal thoughts, and that’s called suicidal ideation.
There’s a range - from passive suicidal ideation, where a person thinks they would be better off dead, to active suicidal ideation, where a person starts to make specific plans to die by suicide.
Fortunately, most people with suicidal ideation never attempt suicide, but there’s no reliable way to identify those who will.
Having said that, there are some predictive risk factors to consider.
To identify individuals at higher risk of completing suicide, there’s a risk assessment scale, which can be remembered with the acronym SAD PERSONS.
S stands for male sex, A for age younger than 19 or older than 45, D for Depression, P for Previous suicide attempt, E for Excess alcohol or substance use, R for Rational thinking loss - having a distorted sense of reality, S for Separated or Single, O for Organized plan - like overdosing on pills, N for No social support and S for Sickness.
More risk factors - means a higher suicide risk.
There are a few mental health conditions that can increase the risk for suicide- in particular, clinical depression and alcohol or substance addiction.
Clinical depression, which is sometimes called major depressive disorder or unipolar depression, is a relatively common but very serious condition that interferes with someone’s day to day life like working, studying, eating, sleeping— essentially leading to an overall feeling that life isn’t enjoyable.
Summary
For Institutions
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier, its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Cookies are used by this site.
USMLE® is a joint program of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) and the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME). COMLEX-USA® is a registered trademark of The National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners, Inc. NCLEX-RN® is a registered trademark of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. Test names and other trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders. None of the trademark holders are endorsed by nor affiliated with Osmosis or this website.
