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Screening Teens for Suicidal Ideas Not a Risk
Asking teenagers if they think about suicide does not increase the risk they will act on it and may actually help adolescents who suffer from depression, researchers said on Tuesday. More than 2, 300 students at six suburban New York high schools filled out questionnaires with half answering questions about whether they thought about suicide while the other half did not. Neither group exhibited increased distress or suicidal thoughts after participating, including at - risk individuals with a history of suicide attempts, depression, or drug abuse.
"On the contrary, the findings suggested that asking about suicidal ideation or behavior may have been beneficial for students with depression symptoms or previous suicide attempts," said the study’ s lead author, Madelyn Gould of New York State Psychiatric Institute. "Our findings can allay concerns about the potential harm of high school - based suicide screening, "she wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. " Health professionals should not hesitate to pose such questions, "she added.
Previous studies have shown screening can be very effective in identifying youths who may contemplate suicide. But suicide awareness programs in schools could be detrimental, the report said. The National Institute of Mental health said there were 1,611 suicides in the 15 to 19 age group in 2001 ,with five times as many boys killing themselves as girls. There were more than 4,000 suicides among 15 - to 24 - year - olds in 2002, according to government data collected by the American Association of Suieidology. For every suicide, as many as 100 to 200 others in the age group attempted suicide, the group said. Suicide rates in the United States generally declined in the decade to 2002, falling to 9.9 per 100,000 among 15 - to 24 - year - olds from 13.5 per 100,000 in 1993.
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