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MENTAL HEALTH

Teens Who Receive Mental Health Treatment Are More Likely To Attempt Suicide

What does the counterintuitive finding mean for the mental health community?

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by Dain Fitzgerald

Staff Writer t +

Image: goodtherapy.org

A new study of teens dealing with mental health issues has uncovered a depressing fact: most teens harboring suicidal thoughts decide to act on those thoughts only after they begin receiving treatment. It's news that "casts doubt" on the value of the treatment strategies currently adopted by mental health professionals.

The Harvard research team behind the counterintuitive finding looked at the behavior of nearly 6,500 teenagers, and revealed that 55% of those with suicidal tendencies made the attempt to end their lives after first being counseled by a mental health specialist. Furthermore, the specialists were unable to prevent the suicide attempt from taking place. The data collected also showed that fear, anger, substance abuse, and stress were all strong predictors of suicidal behavior.

"Most suicidal adolescents reported that they had entered into treatment with a mental health specialist before the onset of their suicidal behaviors," said a psychologist at New York City's Montefiore Medical Center, "which means that while our treatments may be preventing some suicidal behaviors, it clearly is not yet good enough at reducing suicidal thoughts and behaviors."

According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is the third leading cause of death among US adolescents, behind homicides and "unintentional injuries" such as car crashes.

Via womenshealth.gov and the CDC.
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What does this finding suggest should be done for suicidal teens? Does it cast doubt on the expertise of mental health professionals?

132 Comments (view in Forum)

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  • RobertJHarsh
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    SSRI re-uptake inhibitors! These quacks jack up teens on anti-depressants and screws them up. Big Pharma is to blame on this one.

    They are also to blame on Newtown...but I already went down that road.
  • Denizen_Kate
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    It has long been known that common anti-depressant drugs have an almost opposite effect on teens and young adults. This article isn't about the drugs, though, but is stating that just seeing a professional mental health counselor is causing an increase in teen suicides. That seems like more of a systemic problem, and we need to focus more on what causes these tendencies in adolescents.
  • RobertJHarsh
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    @Denizen_Kate The drugs do! Do you think the state is spending "quality time" with these kids to figure out how to help them solve their problems? Nope...they are writing out a script and patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
  • marine1
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    If they would have had these quacks in schools when i was growing up I woud most likely look like a pill tree farm today. I was Sooooo misunderstood.
  • ACTSmom
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    @Denizen_Kate ...that was my first thought too...heck, there are many adults who commit suicide or feel suicidal because of the drugs -- or stopping them. There are so many warnings out there that I'm really surprised the drugs weren't addressed.
  • thejimbo
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    "And there's a myth in society that if you bring up the topic of suicide with teenagers, that they're more likely to act on those impulses, when in fact we know the opposite is true, that parents, peers and teachers, when they bring up this notion with teenagers, it shows care and concern and it actually helps decrease some suicidal ideation."

    - Dr. Brian Daly, assistant professor at Drexel University's Department of Psychology
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @jamesmitchell Maybe, but in my opinion, remembering what I was like as a teen, its an idiot idea for a mental health professional to bring up the idea to teens...
  • DARSB
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    An interesting study but not the first with this finding. The thing about depression is that, if severe enough, the patient lacks the energy to plan out suicide. As they receive treatment they liberate enough energy to be able to work out a plan. That's why antidepressants must be carefully monitored in the early stages of treatment. Apparently the same thing is true for teens undergoing cognitive therapies.
  • twinertia
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    I think getting to the point where you're entering treatment is something of a stress trigger for many people, where they realize their thoughts/actions are serious enough that they need help to manage them. Panic and despair set in, where they feel they might not be able to overcome obstacles like these in order to live the lives they want to. Sad to say, but you simply can't save everyone.
  • CommonSense
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    They're teenagers. Their brains are developing. They're supposed to be somewhat crazy. But psychiatrists don't recognize this and hand out diagnosises like candy anyways. A "diagnosis" stings of permanency. Even if complete remission does sometimes happen most teens don't know that. A diagnosis says "you're not extremely sad, you have a disease called depression". That one little push may be enough to get a teenager who is merely being a teenager over the edge.
    The model psychiatry uses now is inadequate and oversimplifies. Instead we should have dimensions of traits instead of discrete diagnostic categories. So a person could have a depression/happiness score of 34, 56, 83 from 0-100. And to really be accurate it would have to be even more complex than that because being depressed or happy isn't a simple thing. Also just because someone perceives themselves in the present moment as "depressed" doesn't mean they won't look back on themselves in the future and judge that same moment as "happy" or even "humorous". But pinning a diagnosis on a person writes that possibility off. And since they are told it's a "chemical imbalance" they're less likely to try to manage their thoughts and feelings since they believe it's all just "chemicals". Even adults make this fallacy, though many adults will make the logical connection that if thoughts are chemicals then when we think we're helping to change our own chemistry and so even if you're taking a drug to help you still need to manage your own mind.
    Looking back on my own adolescence there were many times where at the time I thought I was miserable but I was really just comparing my emotional well-being to the idealized image I had of other people's emotional well-being and exaggerating my perception of their happiness compared to my own. So most of the times where I had once thought I was depressed I was not depressed, but mistaken. Though at times I did slide into depression, typically whenever I was pondering my life, labeling myself as "depressed", and trying to come up with a "way out" of a depression that was just an illusion and then got truly "depressed" over the thoughts I was having about the previously fake depression.
    Not only teens do this, sometimes adults do this too. That should be the first thing psychologists try to rule out is whether the person is either imagining their depression probably due to comparing their mental state with an idealized mental state of other people or whether while they have real depression it stemmed from obsessing over the fake depression.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    Wow. Past disagreements aside, that was very well expressed. The idea of giving these kids drugs for anything short of psychosis is a big part of the problems. Teens seems "crazy" because they are learning to adjust, changing hormone levels, stress of learning new behavior, developing relationships with the opposite sex, learning to seperate and seek independence from parents they are still dependent upon, developing a separate identity, resisting peer pressure. This is a lot to cope with and adding psychiatric drugs that are little understood to the mix doesn't help.
  • PoliticalSpice
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    @texas_cutie75 Well I generally try to avoid posting anything sounding intelligent or reasonable, blame @commonsense, his post provoked this response. I'll try not to let it happen again. it could spoil my reputation!
  • seedtick
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    In a recent discussion with DARSB, this subject was discussed. These teens, as well as adults, who are mentally impaired, need guidance and direction. They need to know someone cares. Above all we, as Americans, have a moral obligation to provide for those with serious mental handicaps. Instead, programs to help them are seriously under-funded...and they are "shoved aside" until next time. And, by then, they may commit suicide....or become so angry and frustrated that they commit crime to get attention.
  • mimi57
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    I work with mentally ill and suicidal teens, and often by the time they start treatment, unfortunately, it's too late. I've worked w/ teens with various mental
    illness's and at various stages of it. Ninety percent of the girls have been raped
    or molested, almost every file I read states they have been sexually molested and
    usually more than once.

    Also, drugs and alcohol play a role in many teen suicides. Many start out drinking
    and using pot, and then go into harder drugs. Some are thrown right into psychosis, depending on the drug and length of usage. Most all are starved for
    love and seek attention at all costs. Borderline Personality Disorders are the worst, as they are so unpredictable and will 'out do' each other for attention, and
    it's usually negative.

    With the countless amount of money the government wastes on absurdities, one
    would think more of it could surely go into Mental Health. The system is broken.
    I'm not surprised by the numbers of attempted suicides, or the ones that succeed.
    I am outraged at the lack of funding, inadequate care, and seemingly total lack of compassion for those who are mentally ill, especially teens. It is inconceivable to me how they are left to fend for themselves, until it's too late!
  • DerivePI
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    I'd like to hear more about your experiences. Particularly what has worked and what doesn't. I've always thought to remove children from their environments, but am far removed from the field.
  • Knightkore
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    Agreed...that's the key...they are starved for love and attention...they have lost a sense of identity...that's why they need Jesus...if they can understand that they can have a relationship with God and that their identity is in Him...this gives them something to fight with...and to heal from rapes and molestations...{you just reminded me about a big reason why my wife and I were lead to start a ministry...I was wondering if it was still relevant or worth it...perhaps it is needed more than ever...got to get back in touch with the family we were working with...}
  • Knightkore
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    @DerivePI Agreed...I would like some information too...it would help my wife and I with our ministry..."Friends 4 Life"...and Courage Through Grace blog...
  • mimi57
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    @DerivePI They usually present with feelings of wanting to hurt themselves, and
    many do..we have had several 'cutters', some superficial, many cut almost to the
    bone, severing tendons. One girl was so sweet, and would never show her anger,
    but would leave and go to her room and jam a full size pencil in her wrist and up
    into her arm, resulting in her having to have surgery, and then contracting blood
    poisoning.

    The boys/ males are more likely to succeed in suicide attempts, and usually in more violent ways, they are usually less attention seeking and will isolate, but
    not all. Borderline males are difficult, but there seems to be more borderline females. Schizophrenics are usually predictable, as many are in a completely
    psychotic state and take so many anti psychotic meds, they are usually calm.

    Medications help, keeping them on 'programs' help. Group Therapy helps.
    Psychiatrists help, but it is treating the illness, as there usually is no known 'cure'.
    The medications help them mentally, but the side affects are liver failure, and
    different types of cancers. Many suffer from tardive dyskinesia , involuntary
    muscle spasms and tremors due to the anti psychotic drugs. So, there is no
    easy solution, but we can't give up on them and in many ways I feel we have
    given up. The mental health system needs funding, so much wasteful spending,
    and , yet, it doesn't reach the mentally ill... Sad.
  • Knightkore
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    @mimi57 This reminds of the friend and her family {specifically daughter} we've been trying to help...thank you...you've given me the encouragement to not give up...sometimes it's hard to reach them and stick with it...

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  • NormalFlora
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    Politix could just as easily have said "Teens who are so deeply depressed that they commit suicide have had at least one mental health visit." You can spin this both ways.
  • russ
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    Our mental healthcare system is "disturbed". It has transformed in the last 60 years. Counseling and psychotropic drugs are at best a shotgun approach. An honest psychiatrist will admit that. It has evolved as a "bandaid" approach in response to an outcry from mental health advocates. In the 1950's, our society was more attuned to confinement of people not considered completely bonkers. Unfortunately, many of the treatments were barbaric and crude. With present "refinements" comes the misfortune of many sick people walking the streets. Teenagers also face a bombardment of information and stimulus that outpaces changes in healthcare.
  • marine1
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    Food for thought: I have to wonder if society is evolving faster than we are able to cope, if there is an evolutionary curve that in time, we will better be able to deal with?
  • jessejaymes
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    This finding doesn't surprise me at all. When you consider that the mental health industry is based on a man who did cocaine, saw dead people and believed every man wants to sleep with his mother then it's pretty much a give that "mental health" is another one of those things that is bullshit just like "Patriot act".
  • Keyjo
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    Well gee whiz, with all the double income households, latchkey kids required by our capitalistic society, who'd a thunk it?
    Children, adolescents, teens require nurturing attention. Parents come home exhausted physically and mentally, harboring their own depressions. Children are brushed off and left to their own devices. Parents don't know their own children and children feel like strangers in their own homes.
  • tomincali
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    not just that has any of those shooters been on mental health meds or just off of them.

    in the day of take a pill for everything something has to go haywire. this pill for that this one makes the other not do this and another for side effect.
    kid hyper active give him some speed,"ritalin"or other things that sooner or later has some bad side effects.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    I can never tell this story enough. The son of one of my neighbors was diagnosed with Autism back when he was 4- or 5-years old. His parents refused to dope him up. The decided to knuckle down as parents and really sacrifice all they could to provide a stable home for their child and give him good guidance. It wasn't an easy journey, not by the stories my neighbor told me. However, they remained dedicated and didn't give up on their son. Today, you can't tell this kid from any other 18-year old.

    Just because a kid is a little hyper and won't sit still or is a little eccentric is no reason to shoot the kid up with dope. If Adam Lanza wasn't doped up he probably wouldn't have done that evil thing he did. Microwaves are not substitutes for an oven, frozen dinners are not substitutes for a home cooked meal, and drugs are not a substitute for parenting. People please stop doping your children up. Most of these made up ailments are so that the union run school system and the pharmaceuticals companies can profit off of your heartache.
  • Knightkore
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    Unfortunately so many parents just won't do this....heck with "normal" children....as it is....love, time and attention....with God Jesus Holy Spirit....
  • Zazziness
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    I can't stress this enough: deciding that a serious medical condition can or should be treated by good intentions is misguided and often harmful.
  • Neo_NtheMatrix
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    @Zazziness - Can we at least agree that the first and only option shouldn't be doping a child up? Can't we then agree that some of these power psychotic medications can wreck a child for life? People shouldn't just think that drugs are a substitute for parenting. Every child is different and as a result some children need more hands on parenting than others. I've seen children grow up and overcome adversity to go on to lead happy, healthy, and successful lives without being shot up with all kinds of drugs that we still don't know what the side effects are.
  • Zazziness
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    @Neo_NtheMatrix Many mental conditions are brain malfunctions and not medicating them can wreck a child for life. Faith healing and wishful thinking can be incredibly harmful by preventing scientific solutions to a medical problem. I can go so far as to agree that an ill child should receive the minimum medication necessary to regulate an illness.
  • Dan_Tien
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    Maybe teens who suspect that they have no hope are convinced of it after they experience a course of tepid medications that don't really make them feel good and a few sessions with "so how do you feel about that?" counselors that are supposed to be the solution to their problems.
  • Zazziness
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    The Freudian approach to which you refer has fallen far into disfavor over the last fifty decades. Now a patient is much more likely to see a psychologist with a behavioral approach -- and I think that is a good thing. Therapy with a Freudian can take decades and may have few practical results other than fattening the doctor's bank account. A behavioralist, OTOH, cares little, if at all, about what you dreamt last night or how your potty training went or, for that matter, how you feel. They care about dysfunctional behaviors and teaching patients new behaviors that are functional.
  • Zazziness
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    Doesn't it make sense that those who are worst off would be the ones seeking mental health treatment? And, if that's so, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect the highest rate of troubled behavior from that group?
  • tomincali
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    from what i have heard the sickest do think they are sick. another was parents too busy to be parents just hunting for a quick fix instead of being a full time parent.
  • Sabio
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    yes, they are nut jobs themselves, they have no idea what they are doing, mental health "professionals" are nothing but snake charmers,,,,a false science!
  • commonsense51
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    It tells me plenty. Back when God was our sanctity to take all our stress and concerns of the world, there were far fewer suicides. Now man is surprised he has no answers for our heart? Wake up Liberals. The secular Godless world you are creating will be the death of this nation.
  • MadAmerican
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    Lets see-we took prayer out of schools because of a few non believers-we let the government dictate how we punish our children. Parents have to work two jobs because of the price of food, rent, gas. Teachers aren't allowed to punish students anymore. No child left behind doesn't give kids goals to achieve because they know they won't be failed. Drug pushers are out the next day selling drugs to our kids because we don't want to make jail a bad place for them. Face it-the country is going to hell in a handbasket and some kids realize life is going to be horrible for them. No amount of counselling can cure someone who has lost all hope. Many times counsellling is like a government knee jerk reaction. Oh Susie did this. Give her a timeout instead of bustin her ass or expelling her. There's no punishment and next they are on drugs, drinking, shoplifting, etc. I see this every day and all you have to do is look in the QP press at the ones that are 18-23. They are all in a mess and it's the same ones over and over. Two years ago a 20 year old girl I knew opted out-too many drugs. The year before that I learned of two suicides of parents I knew but not their kids. I was shocked when I started learning what was goin on, but society has taken all the morality out of schools and parenting. It's just a fact and it will get worse.
  • Zazziness
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    We didn't take prayer out of the schools; we adhered to our Constitution and left students free to say their prayers to themselves without the government endorsing any one religion. Drug pushers are out of jail because we can't afford to keep them in (and refuse to acknowledge that after eighty years of failure, Prohibition is not the answer to the drug problem.) Whatever Susie did, throwing her into jail as a teen or out of school is NOT going to prevent her from living a life of drug abuse and crime. Rather more likely to encourage it, in fact. I agree children need goals and guidance, and that parents forced into both working full time are hard-pressed to spend as much time parenting as they should.
  • Zazziness
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    @MadAmerican It's sad to say but there will always be dropouts and thugs. There always have been. The imaginary "it was working" is just a fantasy. I do think it would be helpful if our society could generally afford to have one spouse at home with the kids but I don't see that happening. So let's look to the future and workable, creative solutions.

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  • Mia
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    Sounds like another study to justify decreased spending in that particular area, just like the no mamograms needed study right after obamacare was rammed thru. These young adults need to be in a loving family when they are still children. They too often are beinf uprooted from abusive homes and jostled between foster homes and then adolescent treatment facilities. They are raised by staff and seen by multiple prescribing drs. Its amazing they do as well as they do.
  • Mia
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    @ST_Louie_Sue there were studies done right after obamacare was rammed through that stated that mammograms were no longer necessary. There was a public outcry saying that the government was simply using studies in order to justify not paying for mammograms. They backtracked on the issue for now. This seems very to be a similar situation. First minimize any positives. Fund a study to get results that will justify eventual funding cuts.
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