Reaching age at which parent died by suicide increases suicide risk among offspring

Several studies have shown that individuals with a parent who died by suicide have an increased risk of suicide or self-harm themselves compared with individuals with living parents or a parent who died from other causes. A study published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior now finds that this risk may be particularly elevated when the individual reaches the same age at which the parent died by suicide.

The team, led by PhD student and visiting researcher Yanakan Logeswaran (UCL Division of Psychiatry), write in the article: “Contemporary models of grief acknowledge that individuals move backwards and forwards between phases or stages of grief rather than in a linear manner.

“Our findings support the idea of a dynamic process of grief, in so much as the elevated risk of suicidal behaviour at [parental] age correspondence might also represent a period of loss orientation and increased distress.”

The researchers used national data from five Danish registries to identify individuals whose parents died between 1980 and 2016. The data included cause of death as well as hospital records of self-harm or suicide attempt. Individuals were separated into two groups: the 17,806 individuals whose parents died by suicide, and the 452,674 individuals whose parents died due to other causes. The researchers compared the risk of self-harm and suicide during the year before and after individuals reached the age of the deceased parent with the 15 years before and after that period.

Individuals reached the age of their deceased parent a median of 24 years after the loss. The researchers found that those whose parents died by suicide had about twice the risk of self-harm or suicide around the time they reached the age of the deceased parent, relative to the 15 years before or after. Those whose parents died from other causes did not have an increased risk during this period of age correspondence.

“Our findings support the practice of asking suicide-bereaved individuals about age at parental suicide, identifying this as an anticipated period of increased risk and planning increased support,” the researchers wrote.

“This is also an opportunity to reinforce that suicide is not inevitable after the suicide of a parent, with the absolute risk of suicide in offspring of suicide decedents estimated at less than 1%.”

In an accompanying blog post, senior author Professor Alexandra Pitman (UCL Psychiatry) commented: "This work challenges the idea that people who experience a traumatic bereavement ‘move on’ within a few months of the loss; an assumption that their support networks often make. It is important that people bereaved by suicide are aware that the absolute risk of suicide after suicide bereavement is low, but that this study identifies points many years after the loss at which some may experience a resurgence of grief. These and other emotionally significant points in the calendar are important for the support network to be aware of.

"People bereaved by suicide should also be aware of the range of suicide bereavement support resources* available to them, both face to face and online, which they can access even years after the loss."

Links

• Research paper in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior
• Professor Alexandra Pitman's academic profile
• UCL Division of Psychiatry
• Blog post written by Professor Pitman: Needs for grief support persist long after bereavement by suicide, as is apparent at key milestones
• * Resources: Support After Suicide Partnership; Survivors of Bereavement By Suicide (SoBS); American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP); Samaritans; UCL information on sources of support for people at risk of self-harm

Source

• American Psychiatry Association

Image

• Source: iStock

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Chris Lane

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