Suicide has been identified as a leading cause of premature death in autistic populations. Elevated autistic traits have also been associated with higher rates of self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicidal self-harm in the general population, but this has yet to be examined in older age. Using baseline cross-sectional data from the PROTECT study,…

Despite increasing attention on suicidality in autistic people, we know little about suicidal presentations when autistic individuals present to hospital emergency departments (ED). We conducted an exploratory retrospective chart review of suicidal thoughts and behaviours (STB) of autistic adults who presented to a psychiatric ED. The analysis…

We analyzed the Healthcare Cost and Utilization State Emergency Department (ED) Databases and State Inpatient Databases for all individuals who were 2 years of age or older with at least one ED visit from 2011 to 2016 in New York to estimate the association between suicide and non-fatal injury-related ED visits and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).…

Self-harm and suicidal behaviors are prevalent among autistic adults without intellectual disability (ID). Emotion dysregulation (ED), the difficulty in modulating emotions, has been identified as an important risk factor. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has been proved effective to treat ED in disorders other than autism spectrum disorder. Our…

Support from parents and school staff are important for adolescent well-being. However, few studies have examined the role of parental involvement and adult social support at school on high school students' mental health, specifically, suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). Data were collected from 362,980 high school students (51.85% female)…

Suicidality is significantly more common in autistic adults than the general population, yet the factors that increase risk for suicidality among autistic adults remain largely unknown. We identified characteristics associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts/self-inflicted injury in a U.S. national sample of Medicare-enrolled autistic…

Autistic individuals experience elevated risk for suicide ideation, attempts, and deaths. Little is known about how clinicians assess risk or intervene with suicidal autistic individuals. We surveyed 121 clinicians about use of suicide prevention practices with autistic and non-autistic clients. Clinicians reported greater self-efficacy in…

Autistic people are at high risk of mental health problems, self-injury and suicidality. However, no studies have explored autistic peoples' experiences of treatment and support for these difficulties. In partnership with a steering group of autistic adults, an online survey was developed to explore these individuals' experiences of treatment and…

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was originally developed for chronically suicidal adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and emotion dysregulation. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) indicate DBT is associated with improvements in problem behaviors, including suicide ideation and behavior, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), attrition,…

Objective: We performed a 10-year prospective follow-up of a childhood-ascertained (6-12 years), ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; N = 140: combined type [ADHD-C] n = 93; inattentive type [ADHD-I] n = 47) plus a matched comparison group (N = 88). Girls were recruited from…

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has several deleterious effects on health and well-being, including increased risk for rape in adulthood. Such revictimization experiences are linked to negative mental health outcomes. The vast majority of literature on prevalence and impact of sexual revictimization has focused on heterosexual women. In an effort to…

A community survey in 4,426 adults was undertaken as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative reporting the prevalence and risk factors for suicide-related outcomes in Colombia. Lifetime prevalence estimates of suicide ideation, plans, attempts, and risk factors for suicide-related outcomes were assessed. Retrospective reports of…

Deliberate self-harm (DSH; i.e., nonfatal self-poisoning or self-injury) occurs much more frequently than suicide, yet there has been little detailed investigation of the comparative rates of DSH and suicide. We conducted a study of how rates of DSH relate to suicide rates across the life cycle by gender and by method of estimation of DSH rates,…

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts (SAs) are especially prevalent in borderline personality disorder. One proposed mechanism for the maintenance of NSSI and SAs is escape conditioning, whereby immediate reductions in aversive emotional states negatively reinforce the behaviors. Psychophysiological and subjective indicators of…

The relationships among adult attachment styles, interpersonal problems, and categories of suicide-related behaviors (i.e., self-harm, suicide attempts, and their co-occurrence) were examined in a predominantly psychiatric sample (N = 406). Both anxious and avoidant attachment styles were associated with interpersonal problems. In turn, specific…