Faculty

As opioid use has risen nationwide during the last 15 years, a concurrent epidemic of increased youth suicide has also occurred during this period. Researchers have explored the potential of several cultural factors to explain the increase in the suicide rate of children and adolescents, including a warning from the Food and Drug Administration about the use of antidepressants and potential suicidal ideation, the...

For people living with bipolar disorder, challenging family relations can both result from and aggravate the disorder’s symptoms. Existing studies that examine the family environment of young people with familial risk for bipolar disorder have not distinguished whether stressors—such as high rates of conflict—are uniquely related to this disorder or are similarly experienced by families affected by other, non...

The ability to predict suicidal behavior in psychiatric patients is one of the most challenging and high-stakes aspects of clinical practice. However, psychiatric diagnoses are of limited value for prediction because the risk for suicidal behavior can vary substantially over the course of a psychiatric illness. Researchers including University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychiatry investigators Nadine Melhem, PhD...

Adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior have shown dramatic increases in the past decade, making suicide the second leading cause of death in this age group. The standard practice is to hospitalize adolescents at highest imminent risk for a suicide attempt, but the risk for suicidal behavior is highest within the first three weeks after discharge. Currently there are no interventions designed to decrease the risk...