Adolescents Are at Highest Risk One Year after Suicidal Ideation Begins, Study Shows

The majority of adolescents who plan or attempt suicide are already receiving mental health treatment, finds a study published online January 9, 2013, in JAMA Psychiatry (formerly the Archives of General Psychiatry). The researchers suggest that the study’s findings underscore the need for better monitoring of suicidal adolescents and for better methods to identify those at risk. Researchers assessed 6,483 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 and their parents, and estimated the lifetime prevalence of adolescent suicide ideation, plans, and attempts among respondents as 12.1%, 4.0%, and 4.1%, respectively. More than 80% of suicidal adolescents had received mental health treatment, and in most cases (more than 55%), mental health treatment began before the adolescent exhibited suicidal behaviors yet failed to prevent the behaviors from occurring, according to the authors.