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Edited by
Andrea Fiorillo, University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, Naples,Peter Falkai, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München,Philip Gorwood, Sainte-Anne Hospital, Paris
Suicide has been a feature of the human species ever since the beginning of written history and even much earlier, often marking the peak of human suffering – both for the individual that died from it and those left questioning why it happened and how it could have been prevented. However, despite profuse investments in suicide prevention programs and striking advances in psychiatry in past decades, suicide mortality still represents the second most common cause of death in youth worldwide [1]. A recent estimate of the prevalence of past-year suicidal ideation (SI), planning, and attempts in adolescents reached 17% in low- and middle-income countries [2]. Though outnumbered by other causes of death in older age, suicide rates tend to increase with age [3], making it one of the key causes of death worldwide that could theoretically be prevented.
The researches show a rapid growth of mental disorders among adolescents and young adults that often cooccurs with risk behaviours, such as suicide, which is one of the leading cause of death among young ages 15-34. Therefore it's necessary to use some tools that can promote mental health getting to young lives such as Internet and media.
Objectives
SUPREME (Suicide Prevention by Internet and Media Based Mental Health Promotion) is aimed to increasing the prevention of risk behaviours and mental health promotion through the use of mass media and Internet.
Aims
The main expected outcome is to improve mental health among European adolescents.
Method
In each European countries a sample of 300 students (average age of 15 years) will be selected. The prevention program will be a highly interactive website that which will address topics such as raising awareness about mental health and suicide, combating stigma, and stimulate peer help. The program will use different means of referral to the intervention website: “Adolescent related” and “Professional related”. A questionnaire will be administered to the pupils for require the data on lifestyles, values and attitudes, psychological well-being, familiar relationship and friendship.
Conclusion
Some web-sites, managed by mental health professionals, produced encouraging results about their use in prevention of risk behaviours and in increase well-being, especially in youth with low self-esteem and low life-satisfaction. With the implementation of the SUPREME project we will be able to identify best practices for promoting mental health through the Internet and the media.
Mental disorders are considered a risk factor for suicide: for example, the lifetime risk of suicide is estimated to be 4%–8% in people with mood disorders. The literature suggests that a history of suicide attempts is significantly related to electrodermal hyporeactivity and that patients with violent suicide attempters exhibit faster habituation of the electrodermal response to repeated neutral tones than patients with non-violent attempts. The impact of depressive symptoms on suicidal ideation may be moderated by resilience. Resilience refers to the ability to maintain o regain mental health despite experiencing adversity. In bipolar and depressive disorders, resilience may influence severity of episodes, frequency of relapse and response to treatment.
Aim
The objective of our study was to assess the possible correlation among attempted suicide, resilience and dermal reactivity in a sample of depressed patients.
Methods
We recruited patients with depressive disorders and bipolar depression; data about socio-demographic, clinical features, severity of attempted suicide and suicidal risk were gathered. Patients filled in the Resilience Scale for Adult (RSA). Moreover, for each patient we performed the Edor test in order to assess dermal reactivity.
Results
Data collection is still ongoing. We expect to find lower levels of resilience in those patients who are hyporeactive and attempted suicide. Moreover, we hypothesize that suicide attempts in the group of hyporeactive patients would be characterized by planning and greater severity. Clinical implications will be discussed.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
Psychotic experiences (PEs) are reported by a significant minority of adolescents and are associated with the development of psychiatric disorders. The aims of this study were to examine associations between PEs and a range of factors including psychopathology, adversity and lifestyle, and to investigate mediating effects of coping style and parental support on associations between adversity and PEs in a general population adolescent sample.
Method
Cross-sectional data were drawn from the Irish centre of the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe study. Students completed a self-report questionnaire and 973 adolescents, of whom 522 (53.6%) were boys, participated. PEs were assessed using the 7-item Adolescent Psychotic Symptom Screener.
Results
Of the total sample, 81 (8.7%) of the sample were found to be at risk of PEs. In multivariate analysis, associations were found between PEs and number of adverse events reported (OR 4.48, CI 1.41–14.25; p < 0.011), maladaptive/pathological internet use (OR 2.70, CI 1.30–5.58; p = 0.007), alcohol intoxication (OR 2.12, CI 1.10–4.12; p = 0.025) and anxiety symptoms (OR 4.03, CI 1.57–10.33; p = 0.004). There were small mediating effects of parental supervision, parental support and maladaptive coping on associations between adversity and PEs.
Conclusion
We have identified potential risk factors for PEs from multiple domains including adversity, mental health and lifestyle factors. The mediating effect of parental support on associations between adversity and PEs suggests that poor family relationships may account for some of this mechanism. These findings can inform the development of interventions for adolescents at risk.
Migration has been reported to be associated with higher prevalence of mental disorders and suicidal behaviour.
Aims
To examine the prevalence of emotional and behavioural difficulties, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among migrant adolescents and their non-migrant peers.
Method
A school-based survey was completed by 11 057 European adolescents as part of the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) study.
Results
A previous suicide attempt was reported by 386 (3.6%) adolescents. Compared with non-migrants, first-generation migrants had an elevated prevalence of suicide attempts (odds ratio (OR) 2.08; 95% CI 1.32–3.26; P=0.001 for European migrants and OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.06–3.27; P=0.031 for non-European migrants) and significantly higher levels of peer difficulties. Highest levels of conduct and hyperactivity problems were found among migrants of non-European origin.
Conclusions
Appropriate mental health services and school-based supports are required to meet the complex needs of migrant adolescents.
Early environmental events may be relevant to the etiology of schizophrenia. Among such events, interest has focused especially on obstetric complications (OCs).
Objective:
Aims of the study were to compare the incidence of OCs in patients, siblings and normal controls and to examine the relationship between OCs and later schizophrenia.
Method:
One hundred and thirteen patients with schizophrenia were recruited, as were 140 patients’ siblings and 113 controls without schizophrenia. The OCs history of patients, their sibs and controls was obtained through interviews with patients’ and controls’ mothers.
Results:
The results highlighted that more patients than sibs had at least one definite OC and a higher mean number of OCs; more patients had premature rupture of membranes, threatened abortion and a labor of more than 36 h.
Conclusions:
Our data provide some evidence for a link between OCs and later schizophrenia. Furthermore, this study highlights how OCs, which may cause fetal distress through a hypoxic-ischemic mechanism, could increase the risk of schizophrenia interacting with genetic susceptibility.
Self-harm is a direct, socially unacceptable,repetitive behavior that causes minor to moderate physical injury without suicidal intent. It is also a significant and growing concern among prison inmates, although it has been rarely studied. In the present study, we aimed to investigate demographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables associated to this critical bahaviour in a high risk sample of 1,555 male prisoners.
Methods
Prisoners were interviewed about their history of self-mutilation, psychiatric history,and forensic history. The prisoners completed the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.
Results
Eighteen percent of prisoners had a history of self-harm. They more frequently reported childhood traumas, were more likely to be unmarried, previously imprisoned, tested positive for substance abuse, had a history of suicide attempt, and more likely showed violent tendencies.
Discussion
Self-harm among prisoners is common, being found in almost 20% of the subjects in our sample. Self-mutilation among prisoners appears to be multi-factorial with developmental, socio-demographic, psychiatric, and personality determinants.
Conclusion
Self-harm is associated with critical behaviors such as violence, substance abuse and suicide attempts, which represent major critical problems in contention environments.
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