Anxiety Disorders and Suicide: Psychiatric Interventions

A universal phenomenon equally ancient as the history of mankind, suicide is defined as the willful and intentional ending of one’s own life. Risk factors for suicidal behav‐ ior are traumatic childhood and adulthood experiences, negative interfamily interac‐ tions, social isolation, decreased social solidarity, financial troubles, losses, despair, impulsivity, and migration. Recognized as a critical public health problem, prelimina‐ ry causes of suicide are financial, religious, political, social, cultural, and medical in addition to mental disorders like depression and alcohol addiction. It has been proven in a number of researches till today that there is a correlation between major depres‐ sion, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, alcohol-drug use, and suicidal behavior. Nonetheless, the relation between anxiety disorders and suicidal behavior has not been clearly defined to date. The evidences gathered so far reveal that panic disorder is only an independent risk factor for suicide attempt. The limited number of studies on this domain provided nonhomogenous results. It is however a point to keep in mind that if anxiety disorders are codiagnosed with men‐ tal disorders, they pose risk for suicidal behavior. In different studies with a wider sampling in this domain, analyzing the effect of specific anxiety disorders on suicidal behavior might be useful for suicide prevention programs.