Leo Sher, M.D. A research reports, “Religiousness as a predictor of suicide: An analysis of 162 European Regions” has been published in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior online ahead of print (1). The authors examined a relation between religiousness and suicide rates in 162 regions within 22 European nations (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A research report, “Effects of psilocybin therapy on personality structure” has been published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica online ahead of print (1). The authors state that the goal of their study was to investigate whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients with treatment-resistant depression, to examine whether these alterations […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A research report, “Attempted suicide and oxytocin-related gene polymorphisms” has recently been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (1). Oxytocin, a neuropeptide that plays a role in childbirth, lactation and attachment, has been a focus of studies related to suicidal ideation and behavior. It has been reported previously that a single-nucleotide […]
Leo Sher, M.D. Three days ago, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, “Vital Signs: Trends in State Suicide Rates – United States, 1999-2016 and Circumstances Contributing to Suicide – 27 States, 2015” was published (1). Suicide rates in the United States have risen nearly 30% since 1999. In this study, suicide rates […]
Leo Sher, M.D. Our research article, “Dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels in combat veterans with or without a history of suicide attempt” has been published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica online ahead of print (1). The objective of our investigation was to test the hypothesis that combat veterans who have made a suicide attempt postdeployment can […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A RAND Corporation report, “Comparing quality of care in Veterans Affairs and non-Veterans Affairs settings” has been published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (1). The Veterans Health Administration in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. The goal of the study […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A research report, “Examination of the indirect effects of combat exposure on suicidal behavior in veterans” has been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders (1). The authors examined whether combat exposure has a significant indirect effect on suicidal behavior among Iraq/Afghanistan-era veterans through its effects on PTSD-depressive symptomatology. To be eligible […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A poster entitled, “Homicides of physicians and mental health workers” was presented at the 6th Biennual Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference that was held in Florence, Italy on April 4-8, 2018. The author conducted a systematic search for information on homicides of mental health workers between 1981 and 2014, and of physicians […]
Leo Sher, M.D. Psychiatric researchers from Maryland examined determinants of natural cause mortality in individuals with serious mental illness (1). Their research report, “Natural cause mortality in persons with serious mental illness” has been published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica online ahead of print (1). In all, 789 individuals with schizophrenia and 498 individuals with bipolar […]
Leo Sher, M.D. A research report, “Patterns and predictors of conversion to bipolar disorder in 91 587 individuals diagnosed with unipolar depression” has been published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica online ahead of print (1). In this study, researchers from Aarhus, Denmark, examined predictors of diagnostic conversion from unipolar depression to bipolar disorder. In all, 91,587 […]
