The elderly suicide is a major public health problem that is gaining more and more ground, given the aging population problem. This has rarely been the subject of forensic studies in Tunisia.

To identify the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of elderly suicide victims over 60 years and to determine what factors might increase suicide risk in this population.

We conducted a retrospective study on suicide victims aged 60 and over, autopsied in forensic medicine department of the Habib Bourguiba university hospital in Sfax (Tunisia), on a 10-year period (January 2006–December 2015).

We identified 34 cases with an average age of 66 years. The sex ratio was 2.77. Suicide victims were alone in 38.2% of cases. They were inactive professionally in 32.4% of cases. Almost half of them (44.1%) had a psychiatric history, 40% of depressed pace, 26.7% of bipolar disorder and 13.3% of schizophrenia.

Three main factors were identified as precipitating the passage to suicidal act: family conflicts (26.5%), financial difficulties (11.8%) and loss of autonomy (5.9%).

Suicide methods were hanging (50%), immolation and drug intoxication (11.8%), hit by train and poisoning (8.8%), jumping from height (5.9%) and drowning (2.9%). In 55.8% of cases, suicide took place at home.

Elderly suicide seems to be a huge but largely preventable public health problem. Its prevention is essentially based on the identification of risk situations and the detection and treatment of depression: major suicide risk factor in this population.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Among the patients, 6.6% with past-year major depressive disorders attempt suicide in their life. Resilience (the ability to respond positively to adversity) and coping strategies (the ability to manage living stresses) may be protective factors against suicide ideation and behavior. A study conducted on 100 abstinent substance dependent patients suggested that suicide attempters had significantly lower resilience scale scores. Other authors demonstrated that intrinsic religiosity, resilience, quality of life were associated with previous suicide attempts in depressed patients.

To examine the correlation among resilience, coping strategies and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in depressed patients.

From December 1st 2014 to December 31st 2015 we recruited inpatients and outpatients aged > 18 years with a diagnosis of depression (current or past). At baseline, patients were assessed with Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale, Resilience Scale for Adult and Brief-COping with problems experienced; sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were gathered. Follow-up was conducted after 1 year in order to assess the possible presence of further depressive episodes and suicide attempts. Analysis was performed with SPSS.

Data collection are still ongoing; results and implications will be discussed. We expect to find higher attempted suicide rates in patients with lower resilience and less coping strategies.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Concurrent with the recent global economic crisis there is a rising concern about the effect of recession on suicide mortality rates.

To record patients treated urgently in community mental health unit of Motril, Granada (Spain) by attempted suicide.

Descriptive study recording patients treated urgently in Motril community mental health unit who have done any suicide gesture from February 2015 until December of that year.

In total, 39 urgent assessments were recorded during the observational period.

The month of highest incidence was November, with 6 visits followed by August and October (5).

The most common method was voluntary drug intake.

Origin:

• – 59% were remitted from the general hospital emergency department;

• – critical care and emergency ambulatory devices: 1;

• – primary care: 10;

• – another specialist: 2;

• – own initiative: 2.

Discharge diagnosis:

• – 35.8% individuals did not meet criteria for any mental disorder, although some of them were classified with V or Z diagnosis according to ICD-10 for making a reactive gesture to a emotional crisis, couple breakups or economic problems;

• – 11 of them meet criteria for various anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive and adaptative crisis.

Knowing some peculiar characteristics in suicidal populations as well as the most prevalent pathologies, it could be adapted both the profile of nurse attendance and the type of resources needed to ensure effective patient care.

Profile of patients attended for suicide attempt in an outpatient setting in a semi-rural coastal area is variated. It is worth to mention that one-third of this population did not meet criteria for any mental disorder.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Sleep disturbances are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior. The evidence primarily stems from studies based on questionnaires about sleep quality. In recent years, the availability of wearable health technology has increased and offers an inexpensive, appealing, and accessible way to measure sleep.

Our aim is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of wearable sleep tracking monitoring devices in a sample of suicide attempters.

A prospective, open-label, 12-months study will be conducted in the emergency department (ED) and psychiatric unit (PU) of the university hospital of Brest, France. Inclusion criteria are male or female aged 18 or over, surviving a suicide attempt, discharged from ED or PU, and giving consent. The sleep tracker and a smartphone will be given to the patient after discharge. He or she will receive brief training on how to use the sleep tracker. Patient will be asked to monitor their sleep during the five days following the discharge. The feasibility will be explored by analyzing the data proceeding from the sleep tracker. The acceptability will be assessed during the five-days follow up visit, using a standardized questionnaire.

Preliminary results of this ongoing study show that feasibility and acceptance may be related to technical features of wearable devices.

A better understanding of the bidirectional mechanism between sleep disturbances and suicide behavior will allow the design of tailored interventions to prevent suicide attempts.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Road traffic death and suicide may have some similarity in their psychological correlates; furthermore, road traffic should be considered as a suicide method.

The present study aims to explore the relationship between road traffic deaths and suicides in Europe.

Rates of road traffic accident deaths and suicides and gross national income (GNI) per capita for 40 European nations were obtained from the world health organization official database. The total sample was divided on 22 eastern European nations and 18 western European nations.

Mortality rate from road traffic accidents in groups of all European nations is associated positively with suicides (Pearson r = 0.45, two-tailed P < 0.01) and negatively with GNI (r = −0.64, P < 0.0001). At the same time suicide rates does not reveal a significant correlation with GNI. In the groups of eastern European nations road traffic deaths is associated positively with suicides (r = 0.57, P < 0.01) and relationship with GNI is not significant. As a contrast, in the groups of western European nations road traffic deaths is associated negatively with GNI (r = −0.69, P < 0.01) and shows any significant relationship with suicides. Although in this group, suicides show some positive correlation with GNP (r = 0.45, P < 0.05).

The present data indicate, therefore, that mode of ecological association between three studied indices is various in the different group of European nations what suggests the multifactorial complexity of violent death etiological mechanisms. At the same time, the data allow to suggest that socioeconomic factors are more essential in prevention of road traffic mortality than suicides.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

In a small South Wales town 17 teenagers seemingly committed suicide through hanging in 2008 triggering national media coverage. In the same region, several “Satanist” offenders were successfully prosecuted since.

This paper raises awareness of this “suicide epidemic” and its possible links to ritual violence ideologies.

The research explores how “mind control” through secret societies can lead to suicide and murder.

The research was prompted by client disclosures of a crime series that lead to a false “delusional” diagnosis. Review of the sparse literature and media coverage was used to ascertain themes.

Colin Batley, a self-styled Satanist high priest, was sentenced for child sexual abuse alongside 4 others. His son Damien had died through aspiration when filming himself in a “sexual stimulation game”.

Ian Watkins, disgraced singer of “The Lost Prophets”, was sentenced for abusing two babies provided by two “super-fan” mums. Peaches Geldorf tweeted their names, got a tattoo of O.T.O, a Satanist “kinky sex” group and was found dead a year later.

Albert and Carole Hickman were sentenced for sexually abusing an 11-year-old including “sucking blood”.

Matthew Williams cannibalised his victim before being killed with a police taser.

“Hanging” and “Over-dosing” could be the result of suicide or of “being suicided”. The abuse crimes of all three Satanists convicted in the last 15 years in UK courts occurred in South Wales. Associated violent death in the vicinity of the cases and authority irregularities suggest the operation of an “Organised ritualised crime abuse network” posing challenges for psychiatry.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

Suicide attempts with higher lethality increase the likelihood of suicide completion. Accumulating knowledge on risk factors contributing to higher suicide lethality may help clinicians to allocate their limited resources to more endangered people.

To explore the factors associated with higher lethality in suicide attempts.

All suicide attempters, who visited the emergency department of Uijeongbu St. Mary's hospital from January 2014 to December 2015, were reviewed retrospectively. We compared between the high vs. the low lethality group, of which had been recorded based on clinical judgment using t-test or Chi2/Fisher's exact test with two-sided P-value of 0.05.

Among the 753 suicide attempters, the assessed lethality was recorded in 736 cases. Low and highly lethal attempters were 426 (57.9%) and 310 (42.1%), respectively. For demographic variables, the high lethality attempters were significantly more likely to be older (48.3 vs. 44.78; P = 0.009), unemployed (61.0% vs. 56.5%; P = 0.042, without religion (90.9% vs. 84.9%; P = 0.017). For clinical variables, the high lethality attempters were significantly more likely have hopelessness (67.7% vs. 58.2%; P = 0.013) and a history of schizophrenia (4.5% vs. 1.4%; P = 0.023, while they did display any difference for mood disorders. The low lethality suicide attempts were more frequent in patients with comorbid personality disorders (9.2% vs. 4.9%; P = 0.031).

These results are in line with literatures reporting higher suicide risk in people, who are old, unemployed, not having a religion, psychotic and hopeless. These may have been moderated by committing a higher lethal means of suicide at least in part and warrants additional investigations.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Traditionally past suicide attempt is considered a strong reliable factor in predicting an immediate or short-term suicide risk. Considering the complex interplay of different variables associated with suicide, the absence of past attempts may not prove to be of lesser risk for a consequent attempt.

To compare sociodemographic and clinical correlates within high-risk suicidal patients who have made a recent suicide attempt in the presence versus absence of past suicide attempts.

Retrospective review of patient's records admitted to intensive care unit, applied suicide intervention and supportive treatment (ASIST) between 1st January 2015 and 31st May 2016 was conducted. Data was extracted for all consecutive admissions to ASIST, of adults (16 to 60 years) male patients with high risk for suicide.

Out of 109 at risk inpatients, 31% were recent attempters without past attempts and 13.5% were recent and past attempters. Rest included past attempters without recent attempt and non-attempters. Except for poor coping skills, which were significantly higher (Chi2= 13.97; P = 0.001) in the group consisting recent and past attempters, all other relevant sociodemographic and illness related correlates were comparable across these groups.

Suicide risk may be associated with multiple factors. Apart from past attempts, a faulty coping style can be associated with risk for further attempts. Other correlates like age, marital status, employment and illness profile did not follow the traditional pattern in our study which makes them equally important while addressing suicide risk in Indian men.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

A major risk factor for suicide is suicide attempts. The aim of the present study was to assess risk factors for nonfatal suicide attempts. Suicide attempt with high lethality have been interacting with certain clinical and demographic factors such as age, sex, psychopathology and adverse events, among others.

Observational, descriptive and retrospective study of people who was admitted to a general hospital after suicide attempt.

The aim of this study was to determinate variable associated to high risk of suicide. Describe and analyze demographic and clinical characteristics associated with serious suicide attempts as well as the methods used.

Of a total of 504, 23 patients was admitted after suicide attempt, 61% male, mean age 54.1; 60% required ICU; the most common method consisted of multiple drug intake 40%, 30% associated with toxic, mostly alcohol. Predominant summer and diagnosis of adjustment disorder.

As is the case with suicides prevails male and summer. As to the most common method has been from medication, both men and women. We were surprised diagnosis of the most common reactions to stress. We conclude that the findings could guide a progressive change in the presuicidal pathology.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Suicide is problematic today, being one of the most potentially fatal psychological phenomena, so it is important to assess thinking about suicide or suicidal ideation.

In this study we aim to develop methodological procedures, in order to understand if the emotional stroop test for screening of suicide risk is a good measure of suicidal ideation.

A cross-sectional study was carried-out among a convenience sample of 100 subjects. The data collection was done using a socio-demographic questionnaire, the emotional stroop test for screening of suicide risk, the suicidal ideation questionnaire and the beck depression inventory.

Regarding the degree of association between the score of interference of the emotional stroop test and level of suicidal ideation there is a strong negative correlation and statistically significant. There are statistically significant differences in the scores on the three sheets of emotional stroop test between subjects with high suicidal ideation and low suicidal ideation. Attention is impaired in the group with suicidal ideation.

The emotional stroop test for screening of suicide risk is a useful, rapid and simple assessment tool that can to be used to detect symptoms of suicidal ideation.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Both suicide and mood disorders represent current and future global burden on public health system. Bipolar disorder (BD), part of a diagnostic group of mood disorders, is characterized by manic, depressive and mixed episodes with life-expectancy much shorter than in general population. Patients with BD have 30 times higher suicide rate than the general population and 25–50% of these patients attempts suicide. About 15% of patients who attempted suicide eventually end their lives with completed suicide.

The aim of our research was to distinguish personality features among bipolar patients with current depressive episode (BD-D) who attempted suicide.

The research was conducted among patients with depressive episode of BD (according to diagnostic criteria of ICD–10) who attempted suicide and had been admitted for hospital psychiatric treatment. For assessment of personality, we used the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI, Cloninger R.) upon admittance. Our sample consisted of 31 (n = 31) patient who met the above mentioned criteria. All patients given their written informed consent. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 17.0.

In our sample, we found, higher scores on harm-avoidance (HA), significantly higher scores on novelty seeking (NS) with significantly lower scores on persistence (P), self-directedness (SD) and cooperativeness (C) scales of the TCI. The Mann–Whitney-U test was used to compare samples.

In our sample, suicide attempts are associated with temperament and character dimensions. These results confirmed our initial hypotheses on existence of specific personality features among that group of suicidal patients with BD–D.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

According to the data of 2015, suicide rate in Russia was 17.1 cases per 100,000 population. However, many aspects of the problem of suicidal behavior are not studied. This prevents the organization of the system of effective suicide prevention. In this regard, special attention deserves ethno-cultural factors, since they are essential to the moral and ethical attitude to the possibility of suicide and to potential willingness to formation of suicidal behavior.

Study of the rate of suicide among different nations of Russia.

Statistical analysis of suicide rate in constituent entities of the Russian federation from 2010 to 2015.

The specificity of suicide situation in Russia is that suicide rates in different ethnic groups of the population has the distinction of reaching 21: from 2.8 per 100,000 in the Republic of North Ossetia to 59.7 per 100,000 in the Altai Republic. This is due to cultural peculiarities of different ethnic groups, including the historically established their relationship to suicide. Taking in consideration these factors were elaborated the differential programs for suicide prevention. That has allowed to lower suicidal rate in Russia in 1.4 times for the last 5 years. That indicates the possible beneficial effects of the ethno-cultural approach in suicide prevention strategies.

In planning programs suicide prevention in multinational countries should take into account the ethno-cultural characteristics of the residing peoples.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

It has long been recognized that there are difficulties in obtaining valid mortality rates for suicides. The evidence indicated that suicides are sometimes misclassified and “hidden” as accidental. Suicide by motor vehicle crash is a recognized phenomenon, leading to under-reporting of the actual number of suicides and inaccuracies in the suicides mortality statistics. Road traffic accident mortality and the suicides rates in Russia are both among the highest in the world. This phenomenon has attracted much attention in recent years, but remains poorly understood.

The present study aims to test the hypothesis of the close aggregate level link between road traffic accident mortality and the suicides rates in Russia.

Trends in sex-specific road traffic accident mortality and the suicides rates from 1956 to 2015 were analyzed employing a distributed lags analysis in order to assess bivariate relationship between the two time series.

The graphical evidence suggests that the trends in both road traffic accident mortality and the suicides for male and female seem to follow each other across the time series. The results of analysis indicate the presence of a statistically significant association between the two time series for male at lag zero. This association for female was also positive, but statistically non-significant.

This study indirectly supports the hypothesis that many of road traffic accident deaths in Russia are likely to have been suicides. Alternatively, common confounding variables, including binge drinking and psychosocial distress, may explain positive aggregate-level association between the two time series.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

Suicides that occur during psychiatric hospitalization are tragic events causing immense distress to relatives, peers, and physicians. Suicide risk is particularly high in patients with mood disorders.

To identify a clinical risk profile which can be predictive of suicide in patients undergoing a major depressive episode, hospitalized and within three months after discharge.

We are going to include consecutively admitted depressed patients in San Raffaele Turro hospital (Milan), with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder, for a longitudinal prospective study. Demographical and clinical characteristics will be assessed. Barratt impulsiveness scale, aggression questionnaire, Hamilton psychiatric rating scale for depression, scale for suicide ideation, Columbia suicide severity rating scale will be administered to evaluate, respectively, traits of impulsiveness and aggression, severity of psychopathology and suicidal ideation. A follow-up program has been established to evaluate suicidal ideation one month and three months after discharge.

Considering suicide rates in other psychiatric wards, we retrospectively analyzed in our mood disorder unit the inpatient suicide rate of the last 3 years. In this period, we admitted 1794 patients. The suicide rate has been cumulatively of 0.17% (4 patients): 0.16% in 2014, 0.16% in 2015, and 0.19% in 2016. In the same period, outpatient suicide rate has been of 0.39%; 57.14% of outpatient suicides happened within three months after discharge.

Hospitalization and discharge are critical circumstances for psychiatric patients. Evaluation of risk factors will contribute to explain our ward suicide rate and hopefully to reduce it in the future.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Suicide risk is increasing among all population groups, and no effective prevention method has been established due to high variability of risk factors.

To (1) determine risk factors in people, who video-streamed unsuccessful suicide attempt, and (2) assess whether screening video blog websites is an effective suicide prevention.

Participants (n = 24, 14 M and 10F, age range = 19 to 53) with past history of suicidal attempts were recruited online to participate in encrypted video qualitative interview. Three scales assessed suicidal tendencies and Internet addiction: Columbia–suicide severity rating (C-SSRS), suicide assessment five-step evaluation and triage (SAFE-T), validated Internet addiction scale of own design. Reported data are mixed quantitative and qualitative measures.

Participants were stratified into two age categories (students vs. working professionals), and all were determined to be addicted to Internet. Each group engaged in minimum 15 suicides ideation-related postings, prior to attempting suicide. Young participants typically posted impulsive, quick massages capturing distress caused by peers and family conflicts; seeking short-time recognition was evidenced by eliciting more “likes” and “comments” for each post. Working professionals posted less, but each video was lengthier and messages were emotional, usually ending in tearful summary of life events leading up to suicidal thoughts. While students expressed anger with “the system” as motivation to die, working professionals had financial problems and trouble forming long-lasting friendships.

People of all age groups increasingly document intention to die via blog video posts. These messages can be captured by prevention professionals who can reach out to troubled students and working adults.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

Depression is most common underlying contributor among cases of attempted/completed suicide. There is dearth of information regarding suicidal intent among people with depression and its relationship with hopelessness among Indians.

To evaluate and describe the intent of suicide in people with depression among north Indian population.

This cross-sectional single point, study was performed at the department of psychiatry, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India. Cases were in the age group of 18–60 years with major depressive disorder as per DSM-IV TR criteria. Following tools e.g. Hamilton depression rating scale (HRS), Beck's hopelessness scale (BHS) and suicide intent questionnaire (SIQ) were used for assessment.

Suicidal intent was observed among 68.1% (n = 49) of study sample (n = 72). There was no significant (P > 0.05) association of suicidal intent with socio-demographic factors except domicile status. Suicidal intent was common among people with moderate to severe depression and those with hopelessness. The hopelessness was present among 70.8% of subjects.

Suicidal intent is prevalent among people with major depression. Intervention at initial stage of suicidal intention would of importance for successful preventive measure. This emphasizes the need for evaluation of suicidal intent in cases of depression.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

We analyzed available registers of completed suicides (CS) and suicide attempts (SA), carried out under reporting of the central statistical office (CSO, in the general population, based on death certificates), Police Headquarters (PH, the number of reported SB in the country) and the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw (IPiN, the number of SB in all psychiatric institutions) and the department of adolescent psychiatry in Łódź (SB among hospitalized youth).

Reported data on dissemination of SB in Poland are incomplete, which may affect the reliability of the assessment of the effectiveness of implemented strategies for the prevention of suicides. The aim should be to create a central register of SB, which will not only gather a well-defined data but also monitor how it is obtained.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.