Leo Sher, M.D.

My theoretical paper, “Resilience as a focus of suicide research and prevention” was published 5 years ago in the August 2019 issue of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (1).

Decades of suicide research have mostly focused on risk factors for suicidal behavior while overlooking protective factors such as resilience that may help to address this important public health issue. Resilience is the capacity and dynamic process of adaptively overcoming stress and adversity while maintaining normal psychological and physical functioning. Studies suggest that resilience is a protective factor against suicide risk. Resilience has become a focus of suicide research and prevention.

Promoting resilience may reduce suicide risk in the general population, in groups at elevated suicide risk, and among high-risk individuals. Building resilience in the general population may reduce the incidence of stress-related disorders and, consequently, suicidal behavior. Improving resilience should be a part of the treatment plan of every psychiatric patient. Mental health professionals will probably have the best success in reducing suicide risk in psychiatric patients if they actively concentrate on increasing stress resilience using both psychosocial and pharmacological interventions.

Reference

1. Sher L. Resilience as a focus of suicide research and prevention. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2019 Aug;140(2):169-180. doi: 10.1111/acps.13059. Epub 2019 Jun 20.