The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, 5th Edition Chapter 43. Suicide > Suicide Risk and Protective Factors Sections: Risk Factors, Protective Factors. Topics Discussed: suicidal behavior; suicide. Excerpt: "Suicide is the result of multifaceted determinants, including diagnostic (psychiatric and medical), psychodynamic, genetic, familial, occupational, environmental, social, cultural, and contextual factors. No pathognomic risk factors exist. A single risk factor does not have the statistical power upon which to base a suicide risk assessment. General risk assessment factors have been identified through retrospective community-based psychological autopsies and studies of completed suicides (Fawcett et al. 1993). To be useful, general risk factors must be adapted to the clinical presentation of the individual patient. Evidence-based research finds that high-risk factors associated with attempted suicide in adults include depression, prior suicide attempts, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, alcohol abuse, cocaine abuse, and recent loss of an important relationship (Murphy et al. 1992).Short-term suicide risk factors derived from a 10-year prospective study of patients with affective disorders were statistically significant within 1 year of assessment (Fawcett et al. 1990). The short-term..." DOI: 10.1176/appi.books.9781585623402.318736 The content above is only an excerpt. For full access subscribe now or log into your account below. You can also purchase 24- or 48-hour access; learn more Username: Password:     Athens Login FORGOT your subscriber username and/or password? Get a reminder via email: The email I registered with is:  Not a subscriber? Subscribe Today PsychiatryOnline is a powerful website that features DSM-IV-TR® and The American Journal of Psychiatry as the cornerstones of an unsurpassed collection of psychiatric references, including books, journals, and self-assessment tools. PsychiatryOnline’s innovative platform makes these resources easy and convenient to use, offering Precise and powerful searching across books and journals. Quick pathways to related material. Mobile access from any computer with a Web connection. Ability to download any book section to PDA. Links from bibliographic references to the full text of journal articles. References to material not located in the PsychiatryOnline collection lead you to PubMed. Learn more about PsychiatryOnline Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing PsychiatryOnline@psych.org or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).