Personality disorders are a considerable risk factor for suicidal behavior. In psychological autopsy studies, individuals with personality disorders are frequently found among suicide victims. Suicidal attempts (which are a major risk factor for completed suicide) are also an important issue among affected patients. We performed careful MedLine, Excerpta Medica, PsycLit and PsycINFO searches fr...

OBJECTIVE The authors provide a detailed perspective on the correlates of comorbid anxiety in a large, well-characterized sample of bipolar disorder patients. METHOD Anxiety and its correlates were examined in a cross-sectional sample from the first 500 patients with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder enrolled in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder, a multicenter p...

Diagnostic confusion sometimes exists between bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder (BPD). To improve the recognition of bipolar disorder researchers have identified nondiagnostic factors that point toward bipolar disorder. One such factor is the presence of a family history of bipolar disorder. In the current report from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment ...

We examined the associations between mental disorders and suicidal behavior (ideation, plans, and attempts) among new soldiers using data from the New Soldier Study (NSS) component of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS; N = 38,507). Most new soldiers with a pre-enlistment history of suicide attempt reported a prior mental disorder (59.0%). Each disorder ...

After 10 years of follow-up of a cohort of adolescents and young adults living in Munich, Tijssen et al (pp. 102–108) found that the persistence of affective symptoms earlier in life predicted later development of bipolar disorder in a dose–response fashion. They confirmed that although hypomanic symptoms are relatively common in adolescence, most resolve with time. In a Swedish national cohort...

Objective To examine the relation between childhood adversity, the role of school performance, and childhood psychopathology and the risk of suicide.Design Cohort study of register based indicators of childhood adversity (at ages 0-14) including death in the family (suicide analysed separately), parental substance abuse, parental psychiatric disorder, substantial parental criminality, parental ...

of an inquiry into the death of a psychiatric colleague that raised a number of important questions – not least regarding our management of women with bipolar disorder in pregnancy and the postpartum period (North East London Strategic Health Authority, 2003). Dr Daksha Emson took the life of herself and her 3-month-old daughter, Freya. This tragedy took place during a psychotic episode trigger...

Mood disturbance is a common comorbid condition of temporal lobe epilepsy before and after surgery. Suicide is more frequent in patients with epilepsy than in the general population. As suicide is a major issue in both epileptic and depressive patients, it is critical to treat aggressively any psychiatric illness with suicidal ideation. We describe two patients who, after temporal lobe surgery,...

OBJECTIVE Maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with a number of adverse externalizing outcomes for offspring from childhood to adulthood. The relationship between maternal smoking and bipolar disorder in offspring, which includes externalizing symptoms among its many manifestations, has not been investigated in depth. The authors examined whether offspring exposed to maternal smoking...

In a cohort of 50,465 Swedish men conscripted for military service in 1969-70, the relative risk for suicide was 3.1 (95% Cl 2.3-4.0) among those who had a psychiatric diagnosis at conscription, and 16.7 (95% Cl 13.8-20.1) among those who had a psychiatric diagnosis in in-patient care during a 13-year follow-up. Of the diagnoses at conscription, only neurotic disorder, personality disorder and ...