The Relationships between Depression, Suicide Risk and Emotional Cognitive Coping

Background and aim: Emotional cognitive coping strategies are closely correlated with depression and suicide risk. The aim of this study is to explore the particular features of cognitive-emotional coping and their impact on depression levels and suicidal ideation.Methods: The study included a total number of 131 participants, 65 with a clinical diagnosis of depression and 66 controls. Instruments used were: Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21R), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale (MADRS), in order to assess the differences between depressive and non-depressive individuals in relation to coping strategies.Results and conclusion: The findings, based on the statistical analysis of the scores obtained on the various psychometric scales, showed significant differences between depressive and non-depressive patients. Also, cognitive-emotional strategies could represent a good predictor to be used in the prevention of suicide risk in depressed patients.</p

Cognitive - Behavioural Coping Strategies as Predictor of Suicide Risk Severity

Background and aim: Cognitive behavioural coping strategies are closely correlated with depression and suicide risk. The aim of this study is to explore the particular features of cognitive-behavioural coping strategies and their impact on depression levels and suicidal ideation.Methods: The study included a total of 131 participants, of whom 65 had a clinical diagnosis of depression and 66 were controls. Psychometric tools were administered to both groups: Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale (MADRS), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21R), Strategic approach to coping scale (SACS), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), in order to assess the differences between depressive and non-depressive individuals in relation to cognitive behavioural coping strategies.Results and conclusion: Results based on statistical analysis of scores obtained on various psychometric scales showed significant differences between depressed and non-depressed patients. Also, cognitive-behavioural strategies could represent predictors that can be used in the prevention of suicide risk. </p

Pathological internet use and risk-behaviors among european adolescents

Risk-behaviors are a major contributor to the leading causes of morbidity among adolescents and young people; however, their association with pathological Internet use (PIU) is relatively unexplored, particularly within the European context. The main objective of this study is to investigate the association between risk-behaviors and PIU in European adolescents. This cross-sectional study was conducted within the framework of the FP7 European Union project: Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE). Data on adolescents were collected from randomized schools within study sites across eleven European countries. PIU was measured using Young's Diagnostic Questionnaire (YDQ). Risk-behaviors were assessed using questions procured from the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS). A total of 11,931 adolescents were included in the analyses: 43.4% male and 56.6% female (M/F: 5179/6752), with a mean age of 14.89 ± 0.87 years. Adolescents reporting poor sleeping habits and risk-taking actions showed the strongest associations with PIU, followed by tobacco use, poor nutrition and physical inactivity. Among adolescents in the PIU group, 89.9% were characterized as having multiple risk-behaviors. The significant association observed between PIU and risk-behaviors, combined with a high rate of co-occurrence, underlines the importance of considering PIU when screening, treating or preventing high-risk behaviors among adolescents

Adolescent subthreshold-depression and anxiety: psychopathology, functional impairment and increased suicide risk

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Psychopathology is associated with reproductive health risk in European adolescents

Background: Reproductive and mental health are key domains of adolescent wellbeing but possible interrelationships are poorly understood. This cross-sectional study evaluated the association between psychopathology and reproductive health risk among European adolescents. Methods: A structured self-report questionnaire was delivered to 12,395 pupils of 179 randomly selected schools in 11 European countries within the EU funded “Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe” (SEYLE) project. The questionnaire included items about sexual initiation and reproductive health risk factors, such as number of sexual partners, frequency of condom use, and pregnancy involvement. Psychopathology was evaluated with validated instruments and/or ad-hoc questions. Results: Of 11,406 respondents (median age 15; interquartile range [IQR] 14–15; 57% females), 18.8% reported sexual initiation. Sixty percent of them also reported at least one reproductive risk factor. Sexual initiation was significantly more common among pupils older than 15 years (38% versus 13.2% younger pupils) and males (21.3% versus 16.9% females). It was also more common among pupils with depression (age/sex-adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.871), anxiety (aOR 2.190), severe suicidal ideation (aOR 2.259), self-injurious behaviour (aOR 2.892), and suicide attempts (aOR 3.091). These associations were particularly strong among pupils ≤15 years old and, for overt psychopathology, among pupils with low non-sexual risk behaviour profile and females. Depression (aOR 1.937), anxiety (aOR 2.282), severe suicidal ideation (aOR 2.354), self-injurious behaviour (aOR 3.022), and suicide attempts (aOR 3.284) were associated with higher reproductive health risk, defined by an increasing number of coexisting reproductive risk factors. Conclusions: These findings suggest an alignment between mental and reproductive health risk and support the value of cross-domain collaboration in adolescent health. The association between psychopathology and reproductive health risk, as well as its variations with age, sex, and associated risk behaviours, should be considered when designing health-promoting or disease-preventing interventions for adolescents

Suicide prevention for youth - a mental health awareness program: lessons learned from the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) intervention study

Background: The Awareness program was designed as a part of the EU-funded Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) intervention study to promote mental health of adolescents in 11 European countries by helping them to develop problem-solving skills and encouraging them to self-recognize the need for help as well as how to help peers in need. Methods: For this descriptive study all coordinators of the SEYLE Awareness program answered an open-ended evaluation questionnaire at the end of the project implementation. Their answers were synthesized and analyzed and are presented here. Results: The results show that the program cultivated peer understanding and support. Adolescents not only learned about mental health by participating in the Awareness program, but the majority of them also greatly enjoyed the experience. Conclusions: Recommendations for enhancing the successes of mental health awareness programs are presented. Help and cooperation from schools, teachers, local politicians and other stakeholders will lead to more efficacious future programs

The Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT): methodological issues and participant characteristics

Background: Mental health problems and risk behaviours among young people are of great public health concern. Consequently, within the VII Framework Programme, the European Commission funded the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) project. This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted in eleven European countries, with Sweden as the coordinating centre, and was designed to identify an effective way to promote mental health and reduce suicidality and risk taking behaviours among adolescents. Objective: To describe the methodological and field procedures in the SEYLE RCT among adolescents, as well as to present the main characteristics of the recruited sample. Methods: Analyses were conducted to determine: 1) representativeness of study sites compared to respective national data; 2) response rate of schools and pupils, drop-out rates from baseline to 3 and 12 month follow-up, 3) comparability of samples among the four Intervention Arms; 4) properties of the standard scales employed: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Z-SAS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), World Health Organization Well-Being Scale (WHO-5). Results: Participants at baseline comprised 12,395 adolescents (M/F: 5,529/6,799; mean age=14.9±0.9) from Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. At the 3 and 12 months follow up, participation rates were 87.3% and 79.4%, respectively. Demographic characteristics of participating sites were found to be reasonably representative of their respective national population. Overall response rate of schools was 67.8%. All scales utilised in the study had good to very good internal reliability, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha (BDI-II: 0.864; Z-SAS: 0.805; SDQ: 0.740; WHO-5: 0.799). Conclusions: SEYLE achieved its objective of recruiting a large representative sample of adolescents within participating European countries. Analysis of SEYLE data will shed light on the effectiveness of important interventions aimed at improving adolescent mental health and well-being, reducing risk-taking and self-destructive behaviour and preventing suicidality. Trial registration: US National Institute of Health (NIH) clinical trial registry (NCT00906620) and the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00000214)

The role of personality dimensions and trait anxiety in increasing the likelihood of suicide ideation in women during the perinatal period

Introduction Increasing amount of data reveal that suicide risk is a real phenomenon among perinatal women, determined by several other psychopathological conditions with depression being just one of them. This study aimed to investigate the role of personality dimensions on the occurrence of suicide ideation during the perinatal period. Methods A longitudinal prospective study was performed in pregnant women who were monitored at university-based obstetrical care units in our county. Recruited women were reassessed between 6 and 8 weeks into their postnatal period. Trait and state anxiety, five-factor based dimensions of personality, and depressive symptoms were assessed using established psychometric measures. Appropriate statistical analyses were conducted, depending on the distribution of variables. Results Significant levels of state anxiety (33.7% vs. 15.5%), depressive symptoms (19.8% vs. 8.5%), and suicide risk (13.9% vs. 6.3%) have halved in the postnatal period compared to the antenatal assessment. A lower level of education was associated with the presence of postnatal suicide ideation (p = .041), while an unemployed professional status was more frequent in pregnant women presenting antenatal suicide ideation (p = .021). Trait anxiety was predictive for the appearance of suicide ideation within the entire perinatal period assessed (p < .001 and p = .007, respectively). Agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted antenatal suicide ideation (p = .033 and p = .032, respectively). Discussions Different dimensions of personality may play a contributing role in the development of suicide ideation in perinatal women. Consequently, personality dimensions and trait anxiety, not only depressive symptoms, should be investigated when attempting to identify perinatal women at risk of suicide