Do People With Schizophrenia Have an Increased Suicide Risk?
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Schizophrenia can be a debilitating condition, often having a substantial impact on many aspects of one’s daily life.
“The intrinsic symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations, delusions, and profound disturbances in thinking, can contribute to feelings of hopelessness and despair,” says Alex Anderson-Kahl, a nationally certified school psychologist based in Columbia, Missouri.
“Symptoms like hallucinations and delusions can make it hard for the person to distinguish between what is real and what is not, affecting their ability to function in everyday life,” adds Arjun Nanda, MD, a psychiatrist based in Monterey, California.
Many individuals with schizophrenia have difficulty with areas of everyday functioning such as staying employed or having meaningful social connections with others, says Anderson-Kahl. (Research backs this up.) “These functional impairments associated with schizophrenia can further exacerbate feelings of worthlessness and isolation.”
These difficulties could also lead to a diminished sense of purpose and belonging for some people — factors known to increase the risk of suicide, Anderson-Kahl notes.
Although many people with schizophrenia aren’t aware they have the condition, as noted by the National Institutes of Health, those who are aware have an especially increased risk for suicide, according to the aforementioned Medicina review.
For some people, this may be due in part to understanding the implications of having a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia and recognition of the effects it may have on their lives and their aspirations, according to prior research published in Annals of General Psychiatry and the aforementioned Medicina review. This awareness is sometimes associated with hopelessness, which is strongly linked to an increased risk of suicide in this population, per the same research.
People with schizophrenia who feel negatively about treatment or don’t stick to their treatment also have an elevated risk for suicide, per the Medicina review.
There’s also evidence suggesting that suicidal thoughts and behaviors in people with schizophrenia may have a neurobiological cause, meaning there may be physical brain and nervous system differences in those with the disorder that causes them to have suicidal thoughts and increased risk for suicide, per the Medicina review. But little is known about the exact factors that may be at play.
Other risk factors of suicide among people with schizophrenia, per the Medicina review, include:
- Male sex
- Younger age
- Living alone
- Being unmarried
- Being unemployed
- Being well-educated
- Having high intelligence
- Having good functioning prior to schizophrenia onset
- Having significant life events within the past three months
- Having poor work functioning
- Having access to lethal means, such as firearms
- Delayed treatment
- Having the paranoid subtype of schizophrenia
- Having active delusions
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