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Short-term counseling reduced repeat suicide attempts, deaths

Short-term psychosocial counseling decreased the likelihood of repeat suicide attempts and death among individuals who previously attempted suicide, according to recent findings.

“We know that people who have attempted suicide are a high-risk population and that we need to help them. However, we did not know what would be effective in terms of treatment,” researcher Annette Erlangsen, PhD, adjunct associate professor, department of mental health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a press release. “Now we have evidence that psychosocial treatment — which provides support, not medication — is able to prevent suicide in a group at high risk of dying by suicide.”

In the matched cohort study, Erlangsen and colleagues evaluated 5,678 individuals who had previously harmed themselves or attempted suicide. The patients underwent psychosocial therapy at suicide prevention clinics in Denmark from 1992 to 2010, and researchers compared this cohort to 17,304 individuals who did not undergo psychosocial therapy after acts of self-harm. Participants were followed for 20 years, and the researchers used propensity score matching and 31 matching factors to determine ORs at 1, 5, 10 and 20 years.

The researchers found that during the 20-year follow-up, 937 (16.5%) of those who underwent psychosocial therapy were involved in a subsequent act of self-harm. There were 391 (6.9%) deaths, 93 (16%) of which were suicides. Those who underwent psychosocial therapy had lower risk for self-harm than those who did not receive psychosocial therapy (OR=0.73; 95% CI, 0.65-0.82) as well as reduced risk for death by any cause (OR= 0.62; 95% CI, 0.47-0.82) within 1 year.

Treatment had long-term effects regarding repeated self-harm (OR=0.84; 95% CI, 0.77-0.91; number needed to treat=39; 95% CI, 27-69), deaths by suicide (OR=0.75; 95% CI, 0.6-0.94 NTT=188; 95% CI, 108-725) and any-cause death (OR=0.69; 95% CI, 0.62-0.78; NTT=37; 95% CI, 29-52). The researchers said this suggested that the intervention effectively prevented 145 self-harm episodes and 153 deaths, including 30 suicides.

“It isn’t ethical to do a randomized study where some get suicide prevention therapy, while others don’t,” Elizabeth A. Stuart, PhD, associate professor in Bloomberg School’s department of mental health, said in the press release. “Our findings provide a solid basis for recommending that this type of therapy be considered for populations at risk for suicide.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.