Being able to predict the future with 100% certainty is not possible. That’s the case for anything in life, but dang, if only it was possible for suicide prevention. Research shows it is actually difficult for mental health and medical professionals to predict suicide at a high level of accuracy. It’s an unfortunate, but true story.
Luckily, there are a few hopeful points for this issue. The first regards how helping professionals are able to assess risk for those who express suicidal ideation. There are few factors that give professionals a better idea whether someone is at risk.
These factors are divided into two main categories: risk factors and protective factors. As they sound for the epidemiologist in us, risk factors refer to conditions or characteristics that increase the risk of suicide completion. Protective factors are those that decrease the risk of completion.
Common risk factors include previous suicide attempts, history of depression or other mental health difficulties, or serious medical illness or chronic pain. They also include criminal legal issues, job loss or financial problems, history of impulsive behaviors or substance abuse, relationship difficulties, or spousal death. This is certainly not an exhaustive list though. For more, the CDC compiled a good list in 2024 that lists the known risk factors.
That list also includes many protective factors that buffer individuals against suicide risk. Those include strong sense of cultural identity and reasons for living (e.g., family, friends, and even pets). They also include having supportive individuals, communities or social institutions, or religious organizations the individual feels connected to. Religious faith itself, and cultural and religious objections to suicide also appear to be protective factors.
The second point involves the development of our era. You guessed it…. AI. AI shows no shortage of mental health applications (for better or for worse). As an extremely powerful prediction machine, recent research suggests that AI applications for suicide prediction can greatly increase professionals ability to accurately predict an individual’s risk for suicide. Whatever your opinion of AI in the mental health sphere, this could be a pretty promising point in its favor.
Lastly, there are a number of resources professionals can give to individuals at risk. The 988 Lifeline initiative (dial 988) and other mental health hotline support numbers provide a number of resources for times when professional help is not available. There is good CE on approaching and assessing suicide risk with clients as well as an couples-based training. Multiple books and resources available also aid therapists.
Suicide is a difficult issue for everyone involved. Luckily, there is hope and ways professionals can help at-risk individuals.
