Genetics of suicide risk

If you or anyone you know are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Or, contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. If you are in danger of acting on suicidal thoughts or are in any other life-threatening crisis, please call emergency services in your area (9-1-1 in the U.S.) or go to your nearest hospital emergency room. Suicide is one of the top 10 causes of death in the US. There is no one reason why. People may take their life if they feel there is no hope. But it is not always clear to the people around them they feel this way. Depression can be a risk factor. But it often goes undiagnosed or untreated. Taking drugs and stress can raise your risk. Trauma, neglect, and any kind of abuse also can put you at risk. But in the end, no one can know for sure the reason someone decides to take their life. Scientists do not understand much about suicide either. There are lots of questions to which we do not know the answer. Genetics might play a role in who is at risk. There may be other signs we are missing. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will use BioVU to look for answers. They will look for patients who have thought about or tried to kill themselves. They will also include people who took their own life. They will look for gene changes in these patients. They will also look for other clues in their medical records. Things that we may not have noticed before. They hope to find new signs of suicide risk. This could be one or more gene changes. It could also be something else. No matter what, we want to find ways to help people before it is too late.