Treating suicidal ideation in the context of depression
- PDF / 288,146 Bytes
- 5 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 57 Downloads / 212 Views
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Treating suicidal ideation in the context of depression Renee A. Schneider* , Shih Yin Chen, Anita Lungu and Joseph R. Grasso
Abstract Background: Treatment recommendations suggest that suicidal ideation will decrease following successful psychotherapy for depression. However, findings from the empirical research are equivocal in this regard. It is possible suicidal ideation does not respond to empirically supported treatment (EST) for depression or that suicidal ideation limits the efficacy of ESTs for depression. Methods: Data from 793 patients who sought EST for depression was analyzed using t-tests and multiple linear regression. Results: Both patients with (n = 233) or without suicidal ideation (n = 560) were significantly less depressed following treatment. A significant reduction in suicidal ideation was also observed. At baseline, 233 (29.4%) patients reported suicidal ideation, whereas only 90 (11.3%) patients reported suicidal ideation at follow-up. The relationship between suicidal ideation at baseline and depression scores at follow-up was not significant. Conclusions: Patients with suicidal ideation who receive short-term EST can experience significant reductions in both depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Findings suggest that suicidal ideation at baseline does not impact treatment efficacy, but additional research that directly tests moderation is needed. Keywords: Empirically-supported treatment, Depression, Suicidal ideation
Background Suicidal ideation is common among people with mental health problems, particularly depression [1, 2]. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, nearly 30% of people experiencing depression also have thoughts of suicide [3]. Despite the overlap between depression and suicidal ideation, there are no recognized short-term empirically supported treatments (ESTs) for managing suicidal ideation in the context of depression. ESTs are defined as behavioral health interventions that have been rigorously tested in randomized controlled trials or a series of well-designed single subject experiments and have demonstrated efficacy when compared to a control or active treatment condition [4, 5]. ESTs are generally short-term, * Correspondence: [email protected] Lyra Health, Burlingame, USA
manualized interventions for specific disorders [6]. Although treatment guidelines for patients with depression and suicidal ideation suggest that ESTs aimed at reducing depressive symptomatology will also reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors [7], there is little empirical research supporting this assumption [8]. In their review of the research, Cuijpers and colleagues [8] were able to identify only three randomized controlled trials that tested the efficacy of short-term psychotherapy for depression on suicidal ideation. Overall, results demonstrated that short-term psychotherapy for depression had little to no appreciable effect on suicidal ideation. However, limited statistical power and methodological limitatio
Data Loading...
