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4 - Understanding Why: Drivers of Suicide Risk

from Section 1 - Suicide Prevention Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2021

Christine Yu Moutier ,
Anthony R. Pisani  and
Stephen M. Stahl
Christine Yu Moutier
Affiliation:
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Anthony R. Pisani
Affiliation:
University of Rochester Medical Center, New York
Stephen M. Stahl
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Summary

As is the case for all complex health outcomes, there are many risk factors known to increase risk of suicide. In Chapter 6, we will address the clinical assessment of suicide risk, which incorporates risk and protective factors. In the current chapter, we will show how risk factors – health and environmental – weave together and escalate risk at particular moments in a person’s life. This chapter will explore how the interaction of biological, psychological, and social/environmental risk factors can increase risk of suicide, differentiating between more enduring and more dynamic factors. We will show how these various factors intersect with life stressors to increase suicide risk. Research related to the global burden of suicide indicates that while cultural factors and available lethal means play a huge role in the suicide risk of a population, many risk and protective factors are shared cross nationally, likely simply being human risk factors for suicide.

Type
Chapter
Information
Suicide Prevention
Stahl's Handbooks
 , pp. 43 - 72
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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