Citation

Stanley IH. Psychol. Trauma 2021; 13(7): 723-724.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/tra0001121

PMID

34723566

Abstract

A full account of needed future directions is beyond the scope of this Special Section introduction. The authors of the included articles provide cogent summaries of needed future directions, which I will not repeat in full here. I will, however, highlight a few key themes. First, suicide-related outcomes occur on a continuum, inclusive of passive thoughts of death, active suicidal ideation, serious suicidal intent, low-lethality nonfatal suicide attempts, medically serious nonfatal suicide attempts, and suicide mortality. Second, the mechanisms accounting for the link between PTSD and suicidality remain poorly understood-this represents a critical area for future research that will ostensibly lead to targets for clinical intervention. Third, considering the high levels of psychiatric comorbidity in PTSD (Brady et al., 2000), it is necessary to parse apart the unique facet(s) of PTSD linked to suicide risk, as well as the role of neighboring constructs, such as moral injury (Bryan et al., 2018). Fourth, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), PTSD is situated within a broader category of trauma-and-stressor related disorders. Finally, most suicides in the United States are caused by firearms (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020), and the hypervigilance to threat that is characteristic of PTSD may lead some firearm owners to store their firearms unsafely (Jakupcak & Varra, 2011)-a robust risk factor for suicide (Mann & Michel, 2016). I conclude with a glimmer of hope. Notwithstanding the distress and psychosocial functional impairments characteristic of PTSD, most people with PTSD will neither think about nor attempt suicide. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Language: en