TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2012//
TI  - Understanding suicide risk: identification of high-risk groups during high-risk times
JO  - Journal of clinical psychology (Hoboken)
A1  - Overholser, James C.
A1  - Braden, Abby
A1  - Dieter, Lesa
SP  - 349
EP  - 361
VL  - 68
IS  - 3
N2  - Background: The assessment of suicide risk is a complex task for mental health professionals. Certain demographic groups are associated with completed suicide including males, divorced adults, and Caucasians. However, demographic variables alone provide a crude assessment of suicide risk. Psychiatric diagnosis and recent life events might improve the identification of high-risk individuals. Method: The current study evaluated 148 individuals who died by suicide compared with 257 adults who died suddenly from accidents or medical problems. Psychological autopsy was used to assess Axis I psychiatric diagnosis and recent stressful life events. Results: Suicide completers were significantly more likely than comparison subjects to have a depressive disorder, a substance abuse disorder, and to have experienced interpersonal conflict in the months leading up to their death. A discriminant function analysis revealed that the combination of demographic variables, recent stressful life events, and psychiatric diagnoses best discriminated between suicide completers and comparison subjects. Conclusions: Proper assessment of suicide risk should include a comprehensive evaluation of demographic characteristics, recent life stressors, and psychiatric diagnosis. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 67:1-15, 2011.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0021-9762
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20859
ID  - ref1
ER  -