Suicide risk cut by 30 percent after talk therapy, study says

Researchers say the best way to minimize the chances of a repeated suicide attempt is by having the person attend therapy sessions, according to a report.

According to a study published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry, researchers from John Hopkins University tracked more than 5,000 Danish people who had attempted suicide. Some of the participants were given talk therapy, while others were given no therapy.

They found suicides went down by 26 percent after five years, compared to people who had no therapy sessions, according to the study.

Suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death around the world, especially in economically developed countries. In a recent WHO report, about 800.000 to 1 million of people die by suicide every year, and a person commits suicide every 40 seconds. In the U.S. alone, there are more one million suicide attempts each year.

Lead researcher, Annette Erlangsen of the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins, pointed out that people that have attempted suicide but failed are at an especially high risk.

"We know that people who have attempted suicide are a high-risk population and that we need to help them," says Erlangsen. "However, we did not know what would be effective in terms of treatment."

Erlangsen commented on the findings. "Now we have evidence that psychosocial treatment - which provides support, not medication - is able to prevent suicide in a group at high risk of dying by suicide."

"Our findings provide a solid basis for recommending that this type of therapy be considered for populations at risk for suicide."

Dr Elizabeth Stuart, study co-author and associate professor in the Bloomberg School's department of mental health, said the long-term follow-up was ideal for gathering information on which suicide prevention treatments worked.

"Our findings provide a solid basis for recommending that this type of therapy be considered for populations at risk for suicide," she said.