Fred Rios

Phil Hogan
Signature assignment Journal Article Review
December 1, 2016

The ability for an expert to be able to predict whether someone will try and commit
suicide has not seemed to have improved much over the last fifty years. Suicidal thoughts are
one of the most common and the most preventable health problems around. Many
psychologists and other experts like Joseph C. Franklin from the University of Harvard and Kate
H. bentley from boston university have conducted meta analysis of studies to attempt to find
answers to help understand why people develop suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Over 365
studies were looked upon from the past fifty years and only little information was gathered to
slightly better the predictions of determining suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs).
Many theories of suicide have been proposed over the last century. Some examples of
such approaches include biological (e.g., Oquendo et al., 2014) and sociological approaches
(e.g., Durkheim, 1897) where genetics and nature are believed to be involved and make us
more vulnerable to these suicidal behaviors. Others include psychache (Shneidman, 1993);
escape from aversive self-awareness (Baumeister, 1990); hopelessness (e.g., Beck, Steer,
Kovacs, & Garrison, 1985); where people can experience pain that is so unbearable that they
just want to end their suffering by the only means they have which leads them to ending their
lives rather than continuing to live any longer.
Coryell and Schlesser concluded in their study back in 2001 that clinics ability to predict
substantial risks of eventual suicide associated with major depressive disorder in people lacked
many important elements in the DSL(dexamethasone suppression test )used in clinics to help

diagnose people with mental disorders. In their method they used S

eventy-eight inpatients with
Research Diagnostic Criteria major depressive disorder or schizoaffective disorder to enter a
long term follow up study and during a fifteen year follow up results were determined. Thirty-two
of the 78 patients had abnormal DST results. Survival analyses showed that the estimated risk
for eventual suicide in this group was 26.8%, compared to only 2.9% among patients who had
normal DST results. Seeing this can make you frustrated because this shows that not much is
known about the topic and we cant help people who suffer from suicidal thoughts and behaviors
as much as we could.
Many treatments approaches have been used for suicide but only few have shown to
consistently reduce this issue. It is hard to focus on only one area because there are so many
different contributing factors that are also in play and contribute to the problem as well. This
makes doing accurate research more difficult and takes a longer process to come up with
results. A meta-analysis (qualitative and quantitative study data from several selected studies

to develop a single conclusion) of the STB literature is necessary because it is difficult for a
single study to provide an accurate estimate of the true magnitude of a risk factor. By the use of
the meta-analysis method many different studies can be analyzed and tested to see how what is
consistent and accurate compared to other studies and finally used to combine all of the right
components into a new theory to help the advancement and accuracy of understanding suicidal
thought and behavior. I like this method because there is evidence with the clinic's method of
the DSL that provided some inaccurate information and if more than one study is done and
looked at they can see what indeed does work and what does not.

References

(n.d.). Retrieved December 04, 2016, from

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/11/suicidal-behaviors.aspx
(n.d). Retrieved December 01, 2016, from
Franklin, J. C., Ribeiro, J. D., Fox, K. R., Bentley, K. H., Kleiman, E. M., Huang, X.,
Musacchio, K. M., Jaroszewski, A. C., Chang, B. P., & Nock, M. K. (2016, November
14). Risk Factors for Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis of 50 Years of
Research. Psychological Bulletin. Advance online publication.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000084