The relationship between suicide and mental illness has been a research topic for several studies, with findings showing a correlation between the two. Arguments against the findings based on the fact that some suicide cases, either successful or not, result from rash decisions that are not necessarily from people who have a mental illness. Hence, lack of consensus on the relationship between suicide and mental illness. Thus, this research sets to find out whether people who have successfully committed suicide suffer from mental illness.
The article "Do Undiagnosed Suicide Decedents have Symptoms of a Mental Disorder?" by Thomas, Buchman-Schmitt, and Chu (2017), sought to identify the reasons for not all successful suicide cases showing signs of mental illness prior to the suicide. Psychological autopsy findings on people who die from suicide indicate that not all of these cases have previously been found to suffer from any form of mental illness (Thomas, Buchman-Schmitt, & Chu, 2017). However, different possibilities arise from these observations. First, the deceased might not have suffered from mental illness. Secondly, they may have suffered from the undetected psychological disorder, and lastly, the cases may be due to subclinical features of the mental disorder. The researchers reviewed 130 cases from a previous study and found that all the decedents showed significant features of the mental disorder. Thus, all cases of suicide are due to mental illness although in some situation the person might show subclinical symptoms.
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"Attribution of Mental Disorders in Suicide Occurrence" sort to prove that mental disorders are the leading cause of occurrence of suicide (Babanejad, Delpisheh, Asadollahi, Khorshidi, & Sayehmiri, 2014). The researchers performed a cross-sectional study on suicide data in Ilam province across a period of 16 years, from 1993 to 2009. 27.5% of those cases studied showed that the individuals committed or attempted suicide due to mental disorders. The occurrence is higher in males than in females. Thus, treatment of mental illness can significantly reduce cases of suicide.
“ Health and Psychosocial Service Use among Suicides without Psychiatric Illness” by Wa Law, Wong, and Yip (2015), looked to identify the role of psychopathological factors in decisions to commit suicide. Psychological autopsy studies were conducted in 150 cases, and the results were compared with 150 living controls. The results showed that psychopathological factors did not vary between these groups, although the diagnosis was helpful in preventing suicide among the living group. Mental disorder majorly caused suicide among people who had not been diagnosed with psychiatric illness before. Therefore, early diagnosis together with treatment helps to prevent suicides among psychiatric patients.
Rasmussen, Hjelmeland, and Dieserud (2018), article "Barriers toward help-seeking among young men prior to suicide" explores that reasons for failure to look for assistance before the suicide. The researchers interviewed family members of 161 victims where no prior mental disorder diagnosis existed before the suicide. Three main barriers surfaced, feelings of total defeat by the victims, fear that their attempts will be deemed weak by the society and societal stance on the mental disorder (Rasmussen, Hjelmeland, & Dieserud, 2018). The researchers concluded that the young males feared falling short of societal standards.
“ Impulsivity and Suicidality in Adolescent Inpatients” by Auerbach, Stewart, and Johnson (2017) assessed the relationship between impulsive suicide ideation and mental illness among adolescents. The 381 adolescents were tested for mental disorders through impulsive suicidal behavior. The researchers established that mental disorders triggered impulsive or rush decisions leading to suicide. This research shed light on the increased cases of suicide among adolescents and the causes.
The article “Suicide on Railroad Rights-of-Way: A Psychological Autopsy Study” explores the causes of railroad suicides (Babanejad, Delpisheh, Asadollahi, Khorshidi, & Sayehmiri, 2014). Psychological autopsies conducted on 55 victims over a period of three years attempted to understand the psychological motivation for such kinds of suicides. The finds showed that the victims mainly showed mental disorder and substance abuse before the suicides. Thus, preventing such kinds of suicide involves mental disorder diagnosis and treatment.
Mental illness and suicidal ideation and actions are closely related. Above 90% of suicide, cases are due to mental disorders (Babanejad, Delpisheh, Asadollahi, Khorshidi, & Sayehmiri, 2014), irrespective of whether the cases are successful or not. This finding sheds light on the relationship between successful suicide cases and mental illness. Successful cases arise from suicide attempts, in some cases taking several attempts for the victim to successfully carry out the suicide action. Before a person successfully commits suicide, they first go through the stage of suicidal thoughts. It is these thoughts that mature into suicidal action. These thoughts or ideations emanate from mental disorders. If the person is not diagnosed or the condition remains untreated, it is likely to result in suicide attempts. Suicidal actions that turn out successful are as a result of the maturation of the ideations. Thus, the deceased are likely to be found to have suffered from mental illness prior to the suicide.
Suicide decedents may sometimes have no prior diagnosis of mental illness, but a psychological autopsy might reveal the existence of mental disorder. This assertion is supported by a study conducted on suicide decedents by interviewing their immediate families. The findings showed that all the victims either had diagnosable symptoms of mental illness or significant signs of mental illness, even in cases where the signs were subclinical (Thomas, Buchman-Schmitt, & Chu, 2017). The existence of these signs revealed through a psychological autopsy reveals that suicide is related to mental illness, hence the existence of mental illness in people who commit suicide.
However, several explanations exist for the finding mental illness in people who die due to suicide even though the mental illness could not have been detected before death. Limitations in the methodologies applied in detecting mental illness before death are the most viable explanations (Thomas, Buchman-Schmitt, & Chu, 2017). Despite the existence of common symptoms for mental illness among patients, some of the clinical symptoms may vary between patients especially in subclinical cases. The methodologies used for diagnosis of mental disorders must account for these disparities; otherwise, some cases remain undetected. As a result, victims may have no diagnosed mental illness prior to death, but a psychological autopsy reveals the existence of mental illness. Another explanation lies with the subclinical features of mental illness. These features are likely to remain undetected although their effects may be significant enough to lead to suicide. Thus, the deceased will be found to have suffered from mental illness.
Psychopathological factors play a significant role in decisions to commit suicide, hence detection of mental illness in people who commit suicide. As explained by Wa Law, Wong and Yip (2015), psychopathological factors contribute to suicidal deaths if the conditions are not treated. These include both mental and behavioral disorders that have the ability to influence the decisions of the patient. These factors then lead to suicidal thoughts and successful suicide in the victims. As a result, the victim is found to have suffered from mental illness before the suicide. The relationship between psychopathological factors and suicidal behavior is evident in the way biological, social and psychological factors combine. The three interlink is leading to suicidal ideations which then result in suicidal actions that lead to death.
Interestingly, a significant percentage of suicidal deaths occur due to failure to seek help. The patient or those close to him/her may identify or fail to identify the symptoms of mental illness. Consequently, the patient commits suicide due to lack of treatment. Professional help plays a vital role in preventing suicide among patients with mental illness. Among young people, mental disorders are more likely to lead to suicide in males than females (Rasmussen, Hjelmeland and Dieserud, 2018). Hopelessness is the leading cause of failure to seek professional help in successful suicide cases. Hopelessness often leads to suicide as individuals attempt to escape from their situations. The other barriers to seeking help and societal prejudice and opinions towards mental illness. Thus, young people who have mental illness commit suicide due to these barriers of seeking help, hence detection of mental illness after psychological autopsies. Furthermore, impulsive suicidal decisions are triggered by mental illness (Auerbach, Stewart and Johnson, 2017). If mental illness remains untreated, especially in adolescents, it results in suicide. Hence, the relationship between successful suicide and mental illness.
Importantly, mental illness is a leading motivator for suicide. A study conducted within a three year period in the US between 2007 and 2010 on railroad suicides revealed that all the victims had a history of mental illness (Babanejad, Delpisheh, Asadollahi, Khorshidi, & Sayehmiri, 2014). Of all the 55 deaths due to suicide assessed, it was established that mental disorder was a motivating factor, in some cases triggered by substance abuse. These findings show that mental illness can be an independent factor in suicide. In this cases, all the successful suicides are likely preventable through treatment of mental illness. This, however, does not alter the fact that mental illness motivates suicide.
Despite the existence of various factors that might trigger suicidal thoughts in healthy individuals, the handling of these thoughts varies among people suffering from mental illness and healthy individuals. For instance, hopelessness and societal prejudice are the leading barriers for young men with mental illnesses failure to seek help (Rasmussen, Hjelmeland, & Dieserud, 2018). These barriers limit the patients' abilities to deal with these suicidal thoughts. Studies, therefore, need to focus on the psychological differences between healthy individuals and mentally ill individuals and their abilities to handle suicidal thoughts. From such research findings, professionals can strengthen the mental state of the patients to deal with suicidal thoughts. Considering that social and environmental factors vary, treatment of mentally ill patients in an attempt to prevent suicide needs to focus on the contribution of these factors. Treatment, therefore, needs to factor in the social and environmental conditions.
Furthermore, the relationship between successful suicides and mental illness derives a new perspective into the broadly studied topic of mental illness and suicide. Researchers need to study the possibility of suicidal thoughts triggering mental illness. It has been understood for decades that suicidal thoughts are due to mental illness, although the ability of these thoughts triggering of escalating mental illness is not understood. Approaching the issue from this new perspective will help to create more understanding of how the two relate. The possibility of suicidal thoughts and ideations causing mental illness cannot be undermined, considering the fact that psychological autopsies reveal mental illness in patients prior to death. Again, the role of the suicidal ideations in escalating mental disorders needs to be researched. Until the relationship between mental illness and suicide is fully understood that when the most effective solutions and treatments can be formulated.
References
Auerbach, R., Stewart, J., & Johnson, S. (2017). Impulsivity and Suicidality in Adolescent Inpatients. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45(1) , 91-103.
Babanejad, M., Delpisheh, A., Asadollahi, K., Khorshidi, A., & Sayehmiri, K. (2014). Attribution of Mental Disorders in Suicide Occurrence. Omega: Journal of Death & Dying, 69(3) , 311-321.
Berman, l., Sundararaman, R., Price, A., & S., J. (2014). suicide on railroad rights-of-way: A psychological autopsy study. Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior 44 (6), 710-722.
Rasmussen, M., Hjelmeland, H., & Dieserud, G. (2018). Barriers toward help-seeking among young men prior to suicide. Death Studies, 42(6) , 96-103.
Thomas, E., Buchman-Schmitt, M., & Chu, C. (2017). Do undiagnosed suicide decedents have symptoms of a mental disorder? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73(12) , 1744-1752.
Wa Law, Y., Wong, C., & Yip, F. (2015). Health and psychosocial service use among suicides without psychaitric illness. Social Work, 60(1) , 65-74.
