Assessment of suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury in anxiety disorders

Abstract

Suicide is a signi ficant public health problem worldwide. In 2007, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, and the second and third leading causes of death for individuals aged 25-34 and 15-24 years, respectively (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007). In addition, suicide attempts occur at a greater rate than suicide deaths. It is estimated that there are approximately 25 suicide attempts for each suicide death (Goldsmith, Pellmar, Kleinman, & Bunney, 2002). Other estimates suggest an even greater rate of suicide attempts to deaths; among those aged 15-19 years, Mann et al. (2006) report approximately 400 suicide attempts to each death for boys and 3,000 suicide attempts to each death for girls. In a nationally representative sample of individuals aged 15-54 years, 2.7% of those surveyed reported a suicide attempt during their lifetime, 3.9% reported having a suicide plan, and 13.5% reported suicidal ideation (Kessler, Borges, & Walters, 1999; Nock & Kessler, 2006). Similar prevalence rates have been found worldwide. In a cross-national survey of 17 countries, lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts was reported to be 2.7%, while 3.1% and 9.2% of those surveyed reported a suicide plan and suicidal ideation, respectively (Nock et al., 2008). In addition to the emotional and economic costs of attempted suicide, the strongest predictor of future suicidal behavior is a history of previous suicide attempts (Borges et al., 2006; Joiner et al., 2005), emphasizing the need for identi fication and clinical intervention.