Suicide in the United States (Adults)
Relationship between Anxiety Disorders and Suicide.
Anxiety disorders incorporate frequent and repeated incidents of intense worry and fear concerning daily scenes that climax quickly. Among the established risk factors that cause suicide is an Anxiety disorder. It has consistently been associated with the rise in suicidal mannerisms in cross-sectional communities (Nepon et al. 2010). Also, in clinical studies. It is caused by medical conditions like heart and thyroid conditions, drug misuse and withdrawal and misuse, genetics, and environmental stress (Nepon et al. 2010). The various anxiety disorder types are social phobia, separation anxiety, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.
The existing research shows an inconsistent behavior between anxiety disorders and suicidal traits. The relationship is dependent on factors like a personality disorder, mood, case of substance abuse, demographic elements like age, sex, place of residence, religious affiliation, educational level and marital status, and sociological aspects such as organizational memberships, financial status, interests, and values. Most of the anxiety disorders cases are undertreated and underdiagnosed (Nepon et al. 2010). This reflects that proper screening and treatment for this disorder should be encouraged.
The tests prove that panic disorder, a form of anxiety disorder, is associated with suicide. In men, panic disorders led to suicide attempts while in women, social phobia, and PTSD were the leading cause of suicide attempts (Nepon et al. 2010). The results reveal the link between anxiety disorders and suicide attempts. Panic disorder led to 29.8% suicide attempts, agoraphobia without panic disorder caused 1.7% suicide attempts, social phobia led to 27.1% of the suicide attempts, specific phobia caused 37.3% of the suicide attempts, and generalized anxiety disorder caused 31.1% suicide attempts. PTSD resulted in 30.4% of the suicide attempts.
The relationship between Depression and Suicide
According to medical studies, depression is a mood disorder. It varies from Major Depression to Dysthymia. One gets depressed when the nerves in the brain don’t get into contact. They instead pass information to each other through chemicals called neurotransmitters. The chemicals have to be balanced. In case the quantity of chemicals isn’t enough, the information won’t be transmitted correctly. The imbalance of chemicals leads to depression. Social support is crucial for people suffering from depression. However, adulthood limits time spent with friends do to demands like work, family, amongst other responsibilities.
Social support is an element in a few theories that relate depression to suicide. The interpersonal theory suggests that inadequate feelings of belonging, a perceived sense of burdensomeness, and an acquired self-harm ability lead to suicidal mannerisms (Marver et al. 2017). Lower quantity and quality of social interactions with other people come with reduced social connectedness that increases the risk of suicide. The Cry of Pain theory proposes that suicidal traits are feedback to stress, and feeling of no possible escape (Marver et al. 2017). Most people are suffering from depression experience unbearable emotions that they feel the only way to end this pain is through suicide.
A study was done in one year to evaluate the effect of social support and friendship on suicide attempts risk through a follow up of 132 adults that have reported suffering from depression (Marver et al. 2017). The techniques examined friendship relationships, recurrent depression incidents, and the observed results when following up. Tampered friendships forecasted greater risk of suicide trial (Marver et al. 2017). The association of quality of friendship was more significant than the number of social interactions.
Friendship has a bidirectional relationship with depression. The effect of friendship on suicidal traits occurs through its relation to depression. The study results indicate that the risk of friendship quality was higher than that of general friendship (Marver et al. 2017). Damaged friendships meant more acute cases of depression after three months. Also, the results show that the effects of friendship have exceeded that of self-reported depression. Assessment of friendship at different periods defines the nature of social support systems that protect adults.
The research was done on the relationship between response to depression treatment and determining if depression improves friendships. Most depressed adults minimize their social interactions. Thus their social support systems may be weak during this phase (Marver et al. 2017). Therefore, depression intervenes with the consequences of friendship on the suicidal trait threat. Self-reported depression may have a probability of suicide attempt.
Relationship between schizophrenia and Suicide.
Schizophrenia is a mental condition in which individuals interpret reality abnormally. It is characterized by a mixture of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized motor coordination, and mannerisms that tampers with a person’s daily operations. It can be disabling. Delusions involve false perceptions that are not based on reality, while hallucinations include seeing or hearing things that do not exist. The suicide threat among people with schizophrenia supersedes that of the general population by more than 11 times. Approximately 8% of people who have schizophrenia succeed in committing suicide (Cohen, Abdallah, and Diwan, 2010). However, the rate of suicide in younger people with schizophrenia is higher than that of older individuals.
Research indicates that about 5% of the older adults with schizophrenia had been hospitalized because of attempting suicide. A third of the patients attempted suicide within ten years (Cohen, Abdallah, and Diwan, 2010). Most of these people with schizophrenia who attempt suicide are male, white, hopeless, lack social support, have a history of substance abuse, and suffer from depression. The factors that are perceived to protect against suicidal thoughts are life satisfaction and positive survival tactics. Suicidal attempts are associated with low quality of life. It is not linked with the person’s sex, marital status, or living situation.
As per the statistics, 43% of adults with schizophrenia have considered suicide compared to 6% of their age group’s general population. The number of those with schizophrenia that have attempted suicide is 15 times more than that of the community (Cohen, Abdallah, and Diwan 2010). The majorly linked variables to the lifetime suicidal trials were depression, traumatic events, and a victimization history. Depression may result from a failed suicide attempt, while previous traumatic events experienced at a young age have been associated with schizophrenia. There is a high rate of early sexual and physical abuse among the individuals that attempted suicide.
In sum, just like the young people, older persons with schizophrenia stand a higher threat for suicide than their peers of the same age in society. Therefore, it is crucial to observe the causes and rate of suicide attempts among the schizophrenia group. Even though the study identified a minimal number of risk factors, the results were consistent. The research results are crucial to medical practitioners, as they can pinpoint the people who require extra therapeutic efforts since they stand a higher risk of experiencing suicidal thoughts and attempting suicide.
References
Cohen, Carl I., Chadi G. Abdallah, and Shilpa Diwan. 2010. “Suicide Attempts And Associated Factors In Older Adults With Schizophrenia.” Schizophrenia Research 119(1-3):253-257.
Marver, Julia E., et al., 2017. “Friendship, Depression, And Suicide Attempts In Adults: Exploratory Analysis Of A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 47(6):660-671.
Nepon, Josh, Shay-Lee Belik, James Bolton, and Jitender Sareen. 2010. “The Relationship Between Anxiety Disorders And Suicide Attempts: Findings From The National Epidemiologic Survey On Alcohol And Related Conditions.” Depression and Anxiety, 27(9):791-798.