Suicide Risk Interventions: A Comparison of Treatment Dose and Neural Markers of Treatment Outcome
VA Office of Research and Development
Summary
The suicide rate among active duty service members and Veterans increased substantially following the onset of post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Accordingly, Veteran suicide prevention has been identified as a national healthcare and research priority. The investigators will recruit 136 female and male Veterans who have been hospitalized for suicide risk and randomly assign them to receive one of two psychotherapy treatments for suicide risk after they leave the hospital. The goals of this study are to examine if a) a longer psychotherapy causes greater improvements in coping skills and reductions in negative suicidal thinking, b) a longer psychotherapy is more effective in reducing suicide risk, and c) if Veterans with a history of multiple suicide attempts are more likely to benefit from the longer psychotherapy. Additionally, this study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) neuroimaging scans of Veterans shortly after they leave the hospital and again 4- and 12-months later. This study will explore a) if brain markers can predict suicide attempts, b) if brain markers change over time as suicide risk changes, and c) if brain markers change differently for the two types of psychotherapy.
Description
The suicide rate among active duty service members and Veterans increased substantially following the onset of post-9/11 conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Accordingly, Veteran suicide prevention has been identified as a national healthcare and research priority. Psychosocial interventions for suicide risk vary substantially in dose and resource allocation. Single-session interventions (e.g., Enhanced Crisis Response Plans \[ECRP\]) has been shown to reduce risk for future suicide attempts. Other interventions consisting of 10-12 outpatient sessions following inpatient discharge (e.g., Brief C…