De Hepcée Céline, Reynaert Christine, Jacques Denis, Zdanowicz Nicolas
Université Catholique de Louvain, Psychosomatics Unit, Mont-Godinne University Hospital, 5530 Yvoir, Belgium,
Psychiatr Danub. 2015 Sep;27 Suppl 1:S296-9.
Teen suicide is an alarming public health issue. The purpose of this paper is to better understand the reasons behind attempting/committing suicide. Our research focuses on adolescent psychopathology and on pathologies that are considered as adolescent suicide risk factors.
We conducted literature-based research. The first part of this research was based on adolescent psychopathological traits, whilst the second concentrated on the most frequently made diagnoses in the case of adolescents who had attempted suicide.
Adolescence is a period of life characterized by great instability, where everything is called into question. We can observe a high propensity towards taking action, which allows the adolescent to bypass certain questions that they cannot answer. This takes place against a background where the body, which is undergoing change, becomes the scene, the means and the purpose to answer these questions, once and for all, through suicide. Notwithstanding, the studies also show that, setting aside these psychopathological considerations that characterize every adolescent, certain diagnoses are commonly related to adolescent suicide and, as such, constitute risk factors. These pathologies are as follows: depression, adjustment disorder and personality disorder. We can, however, include some precisions as regards the frequency of these diagnoses, given that adolescence is inherently a period of life characterized by depression and that the future adult is obliged to adjust.
Teen suicide is, therefore, conditioned by pathological behaviour, which is part of a necessary and normal transition, but one which is occasionally stimulated by certain pathological instabilities.
