Abstract

About one million suicides and ten million suicide attempts occur worldwide each year. Suicide is not simply a response to stress, but generally a complication of a psychiatric disorder. A proposed stress–diathesis model is described in clinical and neurobiological terms. Neurobiological correlates of the diathesis for suicidal acts point to the involvement of the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Some treatments seem to reduce suicide risk independently of an effect on the primary psychiatric disorder, perhaps by reducing the diathesis.

Author affiliations

1. Department of Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Box 42, New York, New York 10032, USA.
   Email: jjm@columbia.edu