Reflections on suicide in children and adolescents

Alan Apter*, Yari Gvion

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Suicide attempts are the most common reason for seeking psychiatric care in the mid-teens. In the West, females predominantly attempt suicide while males usually commit suicide. In India, deaths in women occurred between 15 and 29 years and youth suicide is especially common. There are many risk factors to suicide behaviour in the young. Access to means is one of the most preventable of such factors. Psychiatric illness is one of the major risk factors in the young. Those include depression, conduct disorder, dissociative disorders and borderline personality disorder, anorexia and bulimia nervosa, and schizophrenia. When there is more than one disorder, then risks are multiplied. Three personality constellations are also evident in youngsters at risk for suicide attempts. Those include narcissism, perfectionism and the inability to tolerate failure; impulsive and aggressive characteristics combined with oversensitivity to life stress and hopelessness are often related to underlying depression and mental illness. Other risk factors are psychological. Suicidal adolescents should undergo a comprehensive clinical evaluation. It is important to emphasize seriousness of the problem to the child and the family and to ensure evaluation, since lack of compliance with treatment is characteristic of suicidal adolescents who are brought to emergency room. The chapter reviews some of the assessment measures that exist. Suicide prevention in youth includes primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies. Primary and secondary prevention programmes are often used at schools. The goal of tertiary prevention is to reduce the rate of relapse in adolescents with known suicidal ideation and attempts. Finally, the chapter reviews some of the interventions used in suicide behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationChild and Adolescent Psychiatry
Subtitle of host publicationAsian Perspectives
PublisherSpringer India
Pages63-77
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9788132236191
ISBN (Print)9788132236177
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Assessment
  • Prevention
  • Risk factors
  • Suicidal behaviour
  • Therapy

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