Depressed individuals who reflexively attempt to dampen their initial emotional responses to reminders of their negative memories have a low tolerance for distressing emotional stimuli in general and may respond to stress in their daily lives with greater upticks in suicidal thoughts. A new study in Biological Psychiatry : Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging , published by Elsevier, examined the relationship of the engagement of emotion regulation to real-world responses to stress in order to better understand stress-related increases in suicide risk in depression. Suicide rates in the United States have increased about 37% since the year 2000.
To reverse this trend, we need to understand how suicide risk emerges in daily life, and specifically the biopsychosocial factors that may influence the ebb and flow of suicide risk." J. John Mann, MD, Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division, New York State Psychiatric Institute Retrospective reports show that the most immediate trigger of suicidal acts is a stressful life event, but researchers say it is very difficult to prospectively study how stress impacts the emergence of acute suicidality.
Co-first author Sarah Herzog, PhD, Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division, New York State Psychiatric Institute; and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, explains, "Ecological momentary assessment allows us to observe how individuals suffering from depression react to stress.