Category: Suicide

Suicidal Brains: Neuroinflammation Is Linked To Suicidal Thoughts

Study of suicidal brains suggests that neuroinflammation could play an important role in suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

Study of suicidal brains suggests that neuroinflammation could play an important role in suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

People experiencing suicidal thoughts have a certain type of inflammation in their brain, research finds.

Microglial cells activate as part of the body’s inflammatory response.

The researchers found that these immune cells were more active in depressed people who were also having suicidal thoughts.

The study suggests that neuroinflammation could play an important role in suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

It may also offer another route to treat this type of depression: through the use of drugs to reduce inflammation.

Dr Peter Talbot, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Our findings are the first results in living depressed patients to suggest that this microglial activation is most prominent in those with suicidal thinking.”

Suicidal brain study

The study involved 14 patients experiencing moderate to severe depression.

The researchers found that activation of the microglial cells was particularly strong in the anterior cingulate cortex.

This part of the brain is known to be involved in mood regulation and depression.

Dr Talbot said:

“The field now has two independent reports — our study and a 2015 report by Setiawan and colleagues in Toronto — showing essentially the same thing: that there is evidence for inflammation, more specifically microglial activation, in the brains of living patients during a major depressive episode.”

Professor John Krystal, the Editor of the journal Biological Psychiatry, said:

“This paper is an important addition to the view that inflammation is a feature of the neurobiology of a subgroup of depressed patients, in this case the group with suicidal ideation.

This observation is particularly important in light of recent evidence supporting a personalized medicine approach to depression, i.e., that anti-inflammatory drugs may have antidepressant effects that are limited to patients with demonstrable inflammation.”

The study was published in the journal Biological Psychiatry (Holmes et al., 2017).

3 Signs That Can Predict A Suicide Attempt (M)

Depressive mixed states often precede a suicide attempt.

Depressive mixed states often precede a suicide attempt.

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The Online Behaviour That Is A Sign Of Suicidal Thoughts (M)

With more and more of modern life being conducted online, the signs of severe mental distress are appearing there as well.

With more and more of modern life being conducted online, the signs of severe mental distress are appearing there as well.

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This Type Of Job Increases Suicide Risk By 33% (M)

Suicide attempts were 33 percent more likely in the group of men who had these types of occupations.

Suicide attempts were 33 percent more likely in the group of men who had these types of occupations.

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A Childhood Cause Of Adult Suicide Risk (M)

The more of these experiences students had suffered, the higher their levels of suicidal ideation, meaning they were thinking about ending their lives.

The more of these experiences students had suffered, the higher their levels of suicidal ideation, meaning they were thinking about ending their lives.

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The Personality Trait That Decreases Suicide Risk

It is also a generally protective factor against health problems.

It is also a generally protective factor against health problems.

More intelligent people are at a lower risk of suicide, research finds.

In fact, intelligence emerges as a generally protective factor against health problems.

People with higher intelligence are also less likely to suffer heart attacks and have accidents.

Dr David Batty, the study’s first author, said:

“People with higher IQ test scores tend to be less likely to smoke or drink alcohol heavily, they eat better diets, and they are more physically active.

So they have a range of better behaviours that may partly explain their lower mortality risk.”

The conclusions come from a study of one million Swedish men.

They were conscripted into the Swedish army at 18 and their health was followed into middle age.

The researchers think the link could be partly down to healthier behaviours of those with a higher IQ.

Dr Batty said:

“If you believe the association between IQ and mortality is at least partially explained by people with a lower IQ having worse behaviours – which is plausible – then it might be that the messages used to change health behaviours are too complicated.”

IQ can be increased through preschool education and nutrition, studies have found.

Dr Batty said:

“Messages about diet, including how much or what type of alcohol is beneficial, aren’t simple, and the array of strategies available for quitting smoking are diverse and actually quite complicated.

If you clarify the options available to people who want to, say, quit smoking, in the short term that may have an effect.”

A further study by Dr Batty and colleagues on 4,000 US soldiers found the same thing: that those with higher IQs lived longer.

The study was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (Batty et al., 2017).

Suicidal People Are 7 Times More Likely To Recover With This Resource (M)

The single factor which helps 38 percent of formerly suicidal people back to complete mental health.

The single factor which helps 38 percent of formerly suicidal people back to complete mental health.

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