Psychosis and suicide

The long-term risk of suicide after a first episode of psychosis is unknown although most researchers think it is probably higher than the rate in the rest of the population. Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London studied 2,723 people in Camberwell, London; Nottingham and Dumfries and Galloway (Scotland) following them for 11 years after their first episode of psychosis. They found that although the rate of suicide was highest in the first year after becoming ill the increased risk persisted for years. Over the course of the study suicide among the participants occured nearly 12 times more than would be expected among the general population. 53 of the participants killed themselves over the course of the study, 49 more than would have been expected in a similar group of unaffected people. Even after ten years the suicide rate among the participants was four times as high as in the general population.

Dutta, Rina ... [et al] - Reassessing the long-term risk of suicide after a first episode of psychosis Archives of General Psychiatry 67(12), December 2010, 1230-1237