No one really understands why a person committed suicide, it's such a personal subject that we often avoid. Less than 10% of people with depression actually attempted suicide and about 10% of those who committed suicide never showed any sign of having mental illness. Multiple studies have been trying to find out what specifically occur in the brain when someone tries to commit suicide and what makes their brain different from others. During this study, they recruited people who have attempted and those who have mental illness yet never attempted suicide and a control group of healthy people. A psychiatrist suggests that abnormality in brain chemistry predispose a person to suicide risks and influences their likelihood of committing suicide. Research show that this genetic influence is related to impulsivity and bad judgement instead of a specific mental illness. Those who are biologically related to a person who committed suicide are more impulsive and more likely to commit suicide. This team has identified a set of 6 genes whose expression is altered in blood of people who have committed suicide, with this data along with an app that tracks mood and risk factors they can predict suicide attempt with 90% accuracy.
Serotonin levels are altered in people with depression, however, they have found that in those that actually committed suicide, the serotonin is altered at a greater level. Researchers hope that they can have a better understanding of the biology underlying suicide so they can have better treatments for it. However, it is a challenging task to study this group because we don't even know how to properly treat them yet. They are emotionally unstable and therefore can't make informed decisions about participating in such studies. I believe this is a promising research because if we can spot suicide tendencies, we can prevent them from happening and get that patient the help and attention that they need.
More information can be found on:
http://www.nature.com/news/brain-study-seeks-roots-of-suicide-1.18870
This is a very interesting article. This is obviously a very important area of research and one that unfortunately affects too many lives, families, friends, and communities. I also found an article* that further contributes to this field. From a genetics standpoint, expressive methylation, hypermethylation, leads to gene inactivation. In the mentioned article, BDNF gene hypermethylation has been associated in suicidal subjects. Further, the study finds amplified levels of the MAOA gene in one suicidal subject and a partial duplication of the COMPT gene in another suicidal subject. Such findings were discovered via the use of array comparative genomic hybridization.
ReplyDeleteI think both articles shed light that a great deal of work is still cut out in terms of this research. Some questions to answer include:
1. Do different genes affect when one considers suicide? For example, are some gene more active in adolescent suicide subjects than in adults and vice versa?
2. Do any of these genes' expression lead to manifestations beyond suicide? If so, can we use such manifestations as "red flags" in order to prevent tragedy?
3. Related to #2, does any genetic component contribute to lifestyle factors associated with higher levels of suicide rate? For example, LGBTQ individuals face some of the highest suicide rates; do any of these genes play a role in defining their sexuality?
These are some questions for the field to consider as more and more research is conducted. I hope a defined set of observations are found in a relatively short period of time so as to avoid further loss of life.
Great find!