Articles sur d'autres thèmes

Understanding Suicide Attempts Among Gay Men From Their Self-perceived Causes

Gay men are at higher risk of suicidality. This paper describes the causes of suicide attempts as perceived by the men themselves and analyzes their impact on severity and recidivism. Mental health surveys conducted among gay men in Geneva, Switzerland, from two probability-based time-space samples in 2007 and 2011, were merged to yield a combined sample N = 762.

Psychiatric disorders, suicidality, and personality among young men by sexual orientation

Personality and its potential role in mediating risk of psychiatric disorders and suicidality are assessed by sexual orientation, using data collected among young Swiss men (n = 5875) recruited while presenting for mandatory military conscription. Mental health outcomes were analyzed by sexual attraction using logistic regression, controlling for five-factor model personality traits and socio-demographics.

The “Suicide Guard Rail”

A minimal structural intervention in hospitals reduces suicide jumps

Jumping from heights is a readily available and lethal method of suicide. This study examined the effectiveness of a minimal structural intervention in preventing suicide jumps at a Swiss general teaching hospital. Following a series of suicide jumps out of the hospital’s windows, a metal guard rail was installed at each window of the high-rise building.

Suicide in breast cancer patients:

An individual-centered approach provides insight beyond epidemiology

Background: Epidemiologic studies have identified increased suicide rates among breast cancer (BC) patients. The population-based approach, however, has considerable methodic shortcomings. None of the studies have been carried out in a prospective manner and none reported suicide rates from a country in which physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is legal.
Patients and methods: All cases recorded by a prospective Swiss BC database during a 17-year period (1990–2006; n 1165) were analyzed. Using an individual-centered approach, the cases of women who committed suicide are reported according to the psychological autopsy method.

Patienten mit intensivpflichtigen medikamentösen Suizidversuchen

Risikoprofil und Verlauf

Über das Risikoprofil von Patienten mit schwersten medikamentösen Suizidersuchen und den weiteren Veriauf bei dieser Patientengruppe ist wenig bekannt. Die aktuelle Studie zielte darauf ab, Risikofaktoren und Ableitung von Behandlungsempfehlungen für diese Patientengruppe zu identifizieren.

An fMRI study on mental pain and suicidal behavior

Background: Suicide is a poorly understood phenomenon. A clinical model of suicide conceptualizes suicidal behavior as a solution to an unbearable state of mind, experienced as mental pain.
Methods: In order to investigate the neural correlates of suicidal behavior, we used fMRI during presentation of autobiographical scripts extracted from personal narratives reactivating patients' memories of a recent episode of attempted suicide. Brain activation was measured during three recalled conditions: mental pain, suicide action, and neutral activity.

Suicide Attempters’ Memory Traces of Exposure to Suicidal Behavior

A Qualitative Pilot Study

Background: In the course of their lives individuals may encounter the phenomenon of suicide in various ways, for example, directly through suicidal behavior in the family or among peers; or indirectly through hearsay, the media, literature, etc.
Aims: The study investigates such memory traces (engrams) in patients with and without a suicide attempt.
Methods: Ten patients from a psychiatric crisis unit who had attempted suicide and ten patients without a history of suicidal behavior were interviewed with a narrative/semistructured interviewing technique. Interviews were video-recorded and fully transcribed. Stepwise reduction of the content was used to develop categories of recurrent memories and models of suicidal behavior.

Letter to the editor: Management of borderline personality disorder

Emerging, new pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies

I read with great interest the recent article by Reisch et al. The authors have clearly demonstrated the significant emotional dysregulation in patients with borderline personality disorder as well as the need to treat the disorder safely and effectively. Interestingly, the past few years have seen the increasing use of novel, new treatment strategies for the management of borderline personality disorder. These strategies include new pharmacological approaches such as quetiapine as well as new non-pharmacological approaches such as mentalization ...

Gender issues in suicide rates, trends and methods among youths aged 15–24 in 15 European countries

Background: No recent cross-country examinations for youth suicide trends and methods for Europe were found.
Aim: The aim of the study is to specify differences in suicide rates, trends and methods used among 15–24 years olds by gender across 15 European countries.
Method: Data for 14,738 suicide cases in the age group 15–24 in 2000–2004/5 were obtained and analysed.

Sequences of emotions in patients with borderline personality disorder

Objective:To investigate sequences of emotions (temporal dependence of emotions) to identify specific patterns of borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Method: The perceived emotions of 50 BPD patients and 50 healthy controls (HC) were monitored by using a hand-held computer system for a 24-h period in a daily life setting. Participants were prompted four times per hour to assess their current perceived emotions. Differences between BPD patients and HC in terms of activation, persistence and down-regulation of emotions were analyzed.

Psychophysiological ambulatory assessment of affective dysregulation in borderline personality disorder

Many experts now believe that pervasive problems in affect regulation constitute the central area of dysfunction in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, data is sparse and inconclusive. We hypothesized that patients with BPD, in contrast to healthy gender and nationality-matched controls, show a higher frequency and intensity of self-reported emotions, altered physiological indices of emotions, more complex emotions and greater problems in identifying specific emotions. The study took a 24-hour psychophysiological ambulatory monitoring approach to investigate affect regulation during everyday life in 50 patients with BPD and in 50 healthy controls.

State affective instability in borderline personality disorder assessed by ambulatory monitoring

Although affective instability is an essential criterion for borderline personality disorder (BPD), it has rarely been reported as an outcome criterion. To date, most of the studies assessing state affective instability in BPD using paper-pencil diaries did not find indications of this characteristic, whereas in others studies, the findings were conflicting. Furthermore, the pattern of instability that characterizes BPD has not yet been identified.
This study assessed the affective states of 50 female patients with BPD and 50 female healthy
controls (HC) during 24 hours of their everyday life using electronic diaries.

Attempted Suicide:

Factors Leading to Hospitalization

This study analyzes how sociodemographic and clinical characteristics influence the treatment decision for patients referred to a university hospital emergency room (ER) owing to attempted suicide.

Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation:

Links with psychiatric comorbidity in eating disorder subjects

Additional psychiatric disorders in eating disorders patients may contribute to the risk of suicide and suicide attempts. The aim of this study was to examine associations between Axes I and II comorbidity and suicidality in a large sample of women currently suffering from an eating disorder (ED).

Suicide attempts in the county of Basel

Results from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour

This article presents epidemiological and clinical findings from the Basel research centre participating in the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour.

Cost of attempted suicide

A retrospective study of extent and associated factors

Suicidal behaviour is a major source of burden of disease. While most studies focus on cost associated with completed suicides, data on costs of, non-lethal, suicide attempts are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess direct annual cost of suicide attempts in Basel in 2003 from a health services perspective.