Why do Suicide Rates Increase in the Spring and Decrease in the Fall? Insights From Canadian Suicide Rate and Death Rate Data Spanning 2010 to 2020 - Canadian Studies in Population Canadian Studies in Population - We examine the hypothesised population dynamic that non-suicide-related deaths systematically remove potential suicides from the population. If true, suicide rates...

Here is the publication page: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

And a free reading link: rdcu.be/fabXs

Maybe of interest, I have a study suggesting that lower mortality in warm seasons confounds the temperature–suicide relationship. If people at elevated suicide risk are also at elevated risk of other-cause death, suicides may appear higher during warm periods, when deaths are low.
rdcu.be/fabXs

New publication alert! 🚨
We analyzed the shared genetic architecture of suicide attempt (SA) and ideation (SI) across 13 traits using large-scale GWAS. We found shared loci implicating neurodevelopmental, immune, and metabolic pathways, with distinct signatures for SA vs SI. doi.org/10.1016/j.eu...

Time to retweet.

No change in suicide rates in our study with data from Austria, Sweden, and Switzerland (some studies did find associations). Another null-finding that was not so easy to publish until some editor decided to have it reviewed.

academic.oup.com/eurpub/artic...

Shamelessly tagging some people who may be interested: @ahgchen.bsky.social @osirisrankin.bsky.social @jgunniii.bsky.social @klonskylab.bsky.social @sethabrutyn.bsky.social @annamueller.bsky.social @cibled.bsky.social @jbsinger.bsky.social @mirandalabcuny.bsky.social @edhagen.net

COVID provides a useful test because it raised death rates disproportionately within groups already at elevated risk of suicide. Thus the suicide disruption during the pandemic is not unique to COVID itself: COVID raised mortality, while the removal mechanism I propose is what shapes suicide rates.

New Publication Alert! 🚨

Why do suicide rates rise in the spring and decline in the fall? I argue that those at risk of suicide also face higher risk of dying from other causes, so fall/winter mortality from flu and heart attacks generate lower suicide rates.

rdcu.be/fabXs

Something exciting is coming soon, stay tuned 😉

Recognition of this process dates back at least to Shakespeare, where the suicides of Romeo and Juliet precipitated reconciliation between their feuding families.
osf.io/preprints/os...

And thus, suicide may be understood as a conditioning mechanism, operating on society to alleviate unlivable conditions:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

There wasn't a reason posted, but I looked at their rules and see there's no posting for non-peer-reviewed items (which I wasn't aware of as a long-time user). So I'm guessing it got removed for that reason, my mistake.

I posted this to reddit, it received a lot of attention before being removed by mods (?) I guess the uncomfortable realities presented were too much for them.

The Importance of Biological Theory - Biological Theory Biological Theory -

I am happy to share this article, entitled "The importance of Biological Theory". It is my inaugural editorial as the new Editor-in-Chief of @biologicaltheory.bsky.social . In these complex and challenging times, theory is more important now than ever. Enjoy!

doi.org/10.1007/s137...

Scores of reports showing that those with chronic suicidality and a desire for death do die by suicide, just some of them use AI now. I don't dismiss these, but they don't show what people think they show. One could do the relevant research with the funding OpenAI is offering. Why not be productive?

No one has actually done any effective anaylsis to-date to see if the suicide rate has increased with the inception of AI. Before AI, people died by suicide. Now that AI is extremely prevelant, it is easy to blame it for problems that have always existed in our society.

Congrats to Amanda on publishing one of her thesis papers! 🥳
@sarahevictor.bsky.social

📰 Between Urges and Actions: Unpacking Affective Dynamics in NSSI 📰

Get your copy! authors.elsevier.com/c/1m5ih_8RBg...

@abct-ssi-sig.bsky.social @iasr-suicide.bsky.social @suicideresearchsym.bsky.social

Maybe of interest, I've been looking at the other side of the same coin—that suicide rates get censored by increases in other-cause mortality. Suicide rates increase with declining death rates coming out of the flu season, with COVID providing a nice natural experiment:
osf.io/preprints/ps...

The COVID natural experiment suggests something very different. Suicide rates increase with declining death rates coming out of the flu season. When death rates are disrupted, suicide rates are also disrupted:
osf.io/preprints/ps...

Higher suicide rates often coincide with longer life expectancy. On their own, they are not necessarily a sign of societal decline. For instance, the drop in suicide rates during COVID does not imply that the pandemic was a time of joy or prosperity.

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

The NYT article is well balanced. Even researchers who examine the sensitive issue of direct causation in suicide would find too little here to justify placing blame on any single factor. It’s an interesting case, but I don’t expect the lawsuit to be successful.

(PDF) Why do suicide rates increase in the spring and decrease in the fall? Insights from an empirical evaluation of Stengel's social hypothesis on suicide PDF | In 1952, the psychiatrist Erwin Stengel hypothesized that suicide becomes rarer in times when the value of life within a society is lower, when... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...

While PsyArXiv is going through some growing pains, you can find the most up-to-date version of the preprint here:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Imagine the IRL version of this. AI body cam on a SWAT officer assesses threat level of a target in a split second and has the officer kill the target before the officer could ever react.
youtu.be/9alJwQG-Wbk?...

You’re Not Weak — You’re Wired to Feel This Way “If every suicidal thought was a small death, how many lives have we already lost — quietly, invisibly, inside our own minds?”

taqiyyazayla.medium.com/youre-not-we...

To be fair, the type of content generated by LLMs also plays a role 😛

bsky.app/profile/jame...

The problem may be worse than it looks. Higher mortality rates suppress suicide rates—likely because deaths from other causes preclude later suicides. Rural areas have higher mortality. So how much higher are suicide rates there, after adjusting for this?

osf.io/preprints/ps...

🌟New publication!🌟

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Brief Intervention for Youth Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among Pediatric Primary Care Providers

It was great to be part of the team on this project. I’m excited about continuing this work! @cmpinciotti.bsky.social

#suicideprevention

Almost exactly one year after starting my lab (!), I'm thrilled to share our first preprint! 🥳 @leilyb.bsky.social @sharinahamm.bsky.social @francesghart.bsky.social

We propose future directions for mathematical, computational, & digital methods to advance suicide research: osf.io/preprints/ps...

The recommended prompts it gave were also gold:

I wonder what they’re suggesting here? ☹

The model seems to be overtrained on erratic online discourse 🤔