Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Social Trauma and Suicide in Historical Perspective

Economic depression and unemployment in the West have been and continue to be seen as responsible for periodic increases in suicide rates. This belief has been reinforced by investigations and media reports going back to the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence sustaining this claim is based on official statistics of completed suicides, despite the overwhelming evidence of their lack of reliability. Based on questionable methods and classifications, researchers continue to insist that individual behaviors and motives can be revealed through an examination of wider social, especially economic forces. This paper examines the persistence of these beliefs and their impact on public policy since Durkheim. Building on the often cited but rarely read work of Jack Douglas (Social Meanings of Suicide), I suggest an alternative approach to the etiology of suicide that relies on social meaning and that challenges the essentialist assumptions that human aspirations, successes, and failures have the same meaning and definition everywhere and that assumes cultural uniformity of the motives and the understanding of suicide among different genders, ethnicities, and classes

Social Trauma and Suicide in Historical Perspective

Economic depression and unemployment in the West have been and continue to be seen as responsible for periodic increases in suicide rates. This belief has been reinforced by investigations and media reports going back to the mid-nineteenth century. The evidence sustaining this claim is based on official statistics of completed suicides, despite the overwhelming evidence of their lack of reliability. Based on questionable methods and classifications, researchers continue to insist that individual behaviors and motives can be revealed through an examination of wider social, especially economic forces. This paper examines the persistence of these beliefs and their impact on public policy since Durkheim. Building on the often cited but rarely read work of Jack Douglas (Social Meanings of Suicide), I suggest an alternative approach to the etiology of suicide that relies on social meaning and that challenges the essentialist assumptions that human aspirations, successes, and failures have the same meaning and definition everywhere and that assumes cultural uniformity of the motives and the understanding of suicide among different genders, ethnicities, and classes

The Limits of Social Capital: Durkheim, Suicide, and Social Cohesion

Recent applications of social capital theories to population health often draw on classic sociological theories for validation of the protective features of social cohesion and social integration. Durkheim’s work on suicide has been cited as evidence that modern life disrupts social cohesion and results in a greater risk of morbidity and mortality—including self-destructive behaviors and suicide. We argue that a close reading of Durkheim’s evidence supports the opposite conclusion and that the incidence of self-destructive behaviors such as suicide is often greatest among those with high levels of social integration. A reexamination of Durkheim’s data on female suicide and suicide in the military suggests that we should be skeptical about recent studies connecting improved population health to social capital