News archive

World Health Organization (WHO) has launched two new publications focusing on responsible media reporting about suicide and decriminalization of suicide and suicide attempt.

New research from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Psychiatry shows how suicide attempts among people with depression is associated with higher mortality and impaired functionality.

Bipolar disorder underlies roughly five percent of all suicides among young people. Previous studies also show that there is often a long delay between the onset of bipolarism and its correct diagnosis and treatment. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that fewer boys commit suicide in Swedish regions where bipolar diagnoses are more common. The study, which is published in JAMA Psychiatry, could contribute to more proactive care for reducing the number of suicides.

Medical sleep treatment may reduce self-harm in young people with anxiety and depression, an observational study from Karolinska Institutet suggests. The risk of self-harm increased in the months preceding melatonin prescription and decreased thereafter, especially in girls. The study is published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

A new study published in BMC Public Health, shows that screening in schools can improve psychotic symptoms in adolescents. The study is partly produced by researcher at the National centre for suicide research and prevention at Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Danuta Wasserman, the fouder and current head of department for National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health, was given the honor to give the opening keynote lecture at the 9th World Congress on Women's Mental Health.

The Swedish Media Council (Statens medieråd) in collaboration with NASP has produced a research review about suicide, internet-based communication about suicide and how suicidal individuals can be identified online.

A review of scientific literature investigating the impact of economic crises on suicide has been carried out through a project funded by Region Stockholm. Most of the included studies show a risk of an increase in suicide during and after economic crises. At the same time, the results from a couple of studies indicate that countries that have invested more in welfare, for example the Scandinavian countries, seem to have fared better compared with countries that have invested less in welfare.

In a new report, the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm examined how suicide rates have changed in Sweden in 2020. 

A Swedish registry study, performed at the National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) at Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm County Council, has shown that there is no significant increase in suicide risk during the Midsummer holiday. The results of the study has been published in the Nordic Journal of Psychiatry.

Researchers at the Centre for Psychiatry Research at Karolinska Institutet have completed a large study evaluating a screening instrument for assessing the risk of suicide in connection with a visit to an emergency psychiatric clinic. The researchers found a link between screening score and suicide risk a short time after the emergency visit. The study is published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

COVID-19 hits nations worldwide. Social restrictions are being put in place in an effort to limit the spread of the corona virus and save lives.

We’re to keep a physical distance to reduce the risk of infection, but it’s now on an emotional level that we need to get closer” says Danuta Wasserman, director of the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of Mental Ill-Health (NASP) at Karolinska Institutet.

The National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) wants to raise awareness about the potential increase in suicide and self-harm behavior as a result of the societal impact of the corona pandemic (COVID-19). Risks are linked but not limited to the social, economic and health-related consequences of the pandemic which will continue in the future.

The Swedish organisation Psykiatrifonden has just announced which projects will receive research funding by money earmarked for suicide preventative research donated by Suicide Zero. Lotfi Khemiri at Karolinska Institutet is responsible for one of the projects and is studying the connection between substance abuse and risk of suicide.

Refugees who fled to Sweden were no more likely to die by suicide than migrants who moved to the country on their own terms, according to a study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and UCL in the U.K. However, the risk of suicide for both groups increased the longer they stayed in Sweden and was after 20 years almost on par with that of the native population. The study is published in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

In a report written on behalf of the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have concluded that the risk of suicide among unaccompanied refugee minors and young adults in 2017 was nine times higher than the equivalent figure for the same age group in the Swedish population.

On Tuesday 21 February Karolinska Institutet was visited by the Governor General of Canada David Johnston, his wife Sharon Johnston and the King and Queen of Sweden. The visit took place in conjunction with the state visit by the Governor General and his wife to Sweden at the invitation of the King.