Citation

Geoffroy PA. J. Clin. Psychiatry 2024; 85(2): 24com15359.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Physicians Postgraduate Press)

DOI

10.4088/JCP.24com15359

PMID

38836857

Abstract

Sleep complaints have emerged as significant and independent predictors of suicide likelihood.1 Recent studies published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry have taken a closer look by examining these links in more detail, focusing on the nights leading up to suicidal thoughts or behaviors.2-6 These investigations are essential for further exploring associative signals or epidemiologic data, which, despite showing robust connections, often do not fully clarify these sleep alterations and their dynamics. Recognizing these sleep changes as early warning signs for potential suicidal behavior is crucial, facilitating immediate and tailored interventions.

As a basic but identifiable marker in clinical settings, changes in habitual total sleep time (TST) emerge as a noteworthy early risk marker. Both shorter habitual TST and longer habitual TST are linked to a higher 12- month incidence of suicide attempts.7 Recent research investigated the relationship between nightly sleep duration and short-term suicide risk fluctuations, as well as the potential clinical utility of leveraging indices of recent (ie, over the past 3 days) patterns of sleep duration as a marker of acute suicide utilizing ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in a high-risk sample of community-based adults.5 These studies confirmed earlier findings, which used polysomnography8 or actigraphy,9 that individuals who slept less than their own average amount of sleep during a given night experienced more severe suicidal desire and intent the following day. These observations were recently confirmed in another EMA study in high-risk adolescents showing that both a decrease in this TST and an increase in the sleep onset latency are both associated with a "death wish" the following day.10 These findings are crucial for clinical practice, highlighting the importance of monitoring an individual's recent sleep duration changes, whether nightly or over several nights, as potential short-term markers of suicide risk in individuals at risk. ...

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Risk Factors; *Suicide/psychology; Sleep Wake Disorders