|
Finding method in madness
Researchers link suicide to brain chemicals
November 15, 1996
Web posted at: 11:40 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Eugenia Halsey
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Every year, 30,000 people in the United States commit suicide.
Now, predicting who will do so may not be the mystery previously thought. Certain chemicals in the brain seem to play a role, scientists are saying.
New studies indicate that people who commit suicide have something in common: not enough serotonin, a brain chemical that controls mood.
Serotonin normally helps people restrain their impulses. Without enough of the chemical, they may act on their suicidal thoughts.
This shows psychiatric illnesses and suicide are brain- related disorders, researchers say.
"They're not just a function of the vagaries of everyday life," said John Mann of Columbia University. "People don't go out and kill themselves just because they've lost their job."
In Washington, at a workshop on suicide research, scientists said they have pinpointed an area near the front of the brain where the biochemical activity seems to go awry in people who commit suicide.
"It's as if people who commit suicide are no longer able to inhibit their suicidal tendencies and actually are able to go on and complete the suicide," said Columbia's Victoria Arango.
The faulty chemical activity may stem from genetic factors, or upbringing, and when coupled with a psychiatric disorder or stressful event, may be what pushes the person toward suicide.
Now, through techniques like this, scientists are trying to see if they can detect the same abnormality in the brains of people who are alive.
"We have new imaging technologies that are getting more precise. They're helping us to localize better areas of the brain that may be altered in the psychiatric disorders," said Dr. Mary Blehar, of the National Institute of Mental Health.
In turn, patients' doctors and families could be alerted to try to prevent suicides.
"We already know from studies of people who've killed themselves that of the 50 percent who went to the doctor with major depression, fewer than a quarter received adequate doses of antidepressants. So we could do a better job of treating the depression," said Columbia's Mann.
With suicide the third leading cause of death among young people, mental health experts say identifying those at risk could finally put a dent in the numbers of those killing themselves.
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser windowExternal sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.