European Psychiatry - Volume 33 - March 2016

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24th European Congress of Psychiatry
Debate: Suicide risk can be predicted
D01
Debate: Can suicide be prevented?
D. Wasserman
Karolinska Institute, National Centre for Suicide Research and
Prevention of Mental ill-Health NASP, Stockholm, Sweden
Suicidal behaviour is themost common life-threatening psychiatric
emergency. Reliable and precise tools to predict suicidal behaviours
and to get support in the clinical practice are frequently requested.
Several measurement tools for suicide risk assessment, both psy-
chometric and biological have been studied. However, the low
precision of the predictions make these tools insufficient from the
clinical perspective. To date, the same applies to the search of
genetic predictors. The best information is gained in a standard
clinical evaluation, which puts focus on the need of acquiring the
best possible knowledge and skills by practicing clinicians.
The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) issued a guidance paper
on suicide treatment and prevention, which was published in
the European Psychiatry in 2012 This guidance paper eluci-
dates the process of systematic evaluation of suicidal risks in the
clinical interview, an overview of the best treatment possibilities
and strategies for follow-up. As psychiatric patients constitute the
majority of people who commit suicide, the adequate treatment
of depression, substance use disorders, schizophrenia and other
psychiatric diseases is a must.
We will probably never be able to have perfect measurements to
predict if an individual will or will not commit suicide, due to the
complexities of human behaviour. However, with a good clinical
praxis, suicide is an unnecessary death
Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration
of competing interest.
References
[1] Wasserman D, Rihmer Z, Rujescu D, Sarchiapone M, Sokolowski
M, Titelman D, et al. The European Psychiatric Association (EPA)
guidance on suicide treatment and prevention. Eur Psychiatry
2012;27:129–41.
[2] Wasserman D, editor. Suicide: an unnecessary death. 2nd ed.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2016.
0924-9338/$ – see front matter