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Implicit thoughts of suicide connected to brain activity

Researchers, for the first time, have pinpointed brain regions that become active during subconscious connections between the self and suicidal thoughts in veterans, using the Suicide Implicit Association Test (S-IAT).

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Researchers have pinpointed brain areas active during implicit connections between the self and...
Researchers have pinpointed brain areas active during implicit connections between the self and ideas related to suicide in veterans, as confirmed by the Suicide Implicit Association Test (S-IAT).

Implicit thoughts of suicide connected to brain activity

Study Reveals Brain Regions Linked to Subconscious Suicide Thoughts in Veterans

A groundbreaking study has identified brain regions activated during subconscious associations between self and suicide-related concepts in Veterans. This research, conducted by Boston University researchers, could pave the way for new treatments to reduce suicide risk.

For the first time, fMRI scans revealed unique neural activation in Veterans when they made subconscious self-death associations. These brain areas are a part of networks that help identify important stimuli in our environment and process information related to our selves.

The study used the Suicide Implicit Association Test (S-IAT), which measures people's associations between the "self" and concepts relating to death/dying/suicide. While the S-IAT is one of the few tests that predicts future suicide risk, there has been limited research into brain activation related to the S-IAT.

Forty-two post-9/11 Veterans at low risk for suicide participated in the study. Each participant completed the S-IAT concurrently with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity.

The researchers then contrasted a participant making a self-death association compared to when someone was not making a self-death association to identify brain activation related to self-death associations.

"The brain circuit that we identified could be a novel treatment target for suicidality," explains Audreyana Jagger-Rickels, PhD, the study's corresponding author and assistant professor of psychiatry at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. "...changing the activity of this brain circuit with techniques like neuro-feedback, brain stimulation, or pharmacotherapies could reduce suicide risk by targeting the brain circuit that underlies this suicide-specific cognition."

These findings mark an important step towards understanding the neural mechanisms contributing to suicidality. The discovery offers potential avenues for intervention, such as neurofeedback, brain stimulation techniques, and pharmacotherapy, to reduce suicide risk in Veterans.

Treatment Targets for Reducing Suicide Risk

The study's findings suggest several potential treatment targets for reducing suicide risk in Veterans. These targets primarily focus on neurological interventions that can modulate brain regions involved in self-processing and significant stimuli identification.

  1. Neurofeedback: This technique involves training individuals to control their brain activity through feedback from electroencephalography (EEG) or other neuroimaging techniques. It can be used to target brain regions activated during subconscious self-death associations, helping individuals better manage these thoughts.
  2. Brain Stimulation Techniques: Techniques like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can modulate brain activity in targeted regions. rTMS has shown promise in treating depression, a condition often linked to suicide risk, by stimulating brain areas involved in mood regulation.
  3. Pharmacotherapy: Medications can be targeted to influence neurotransmitter levels in brain regions identified as being involved in suicidal cognition. This approach can help reduce symptoms of underlying conditions contributing to suicide risk.

These treatments aim to address the underlying neural mechanisms associated with suicidality, offering new avenues for intervention and management of suicide risk in Veterans.

This research was published in the journal "Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior."

  1. The neuroscience community is abuzz with the latest news about a study revealing brain regions linked to subconscious suicide thoughts in veterans, a groundbreaking development for mental health and health-and-wellness.
  2. The study, published in the journal "Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior," used fMRI scans to detect unique neural activation in veterans when they made subconscious self-death associations.
  3. This research could lead to new treatments to reduce suicide risk, as neuroscientists have identified a brain circuit that could be a novel treatment target for suicidality, according to Audreyana Jagger-Rickels, the study's corresponding author.
  4. Future therapies might incorporate neurofeedback, brain stimulation techniques, and pharmacotherapy to target the brain circuit underlying this suicide-specific cognition, potentially reducing suicide risk in veterans.
  5. Neurofeedback could help veterans better manage thoughts linked to suicide by training them to control their brain activity through feedback from EEG or other neuroimaging techniques.
  6. Brain stimulation techniques like repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) have shown promise in treating depression, which often accompanies suicide risk, by modulating brain activity in targeted regions.
  7. Medications can be targeted to influence neurotransmitter levels in brain regions identified as being involved in suicidal cognition, helping reduce symptoms of underlying conditions contributing to suicide risk.

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