What if we went beyond depression screening? What if we actually applied research to inform suicide prevention screening?
At the gynecologist this week, the nurse asks one mental health question. - What that the PHQ-2? - Yes. I just asked it as one. - Hmmm, y’all don’t ask the 9th question?
Did you know pelvic pain is associated with increased suicide risk? Research individuals living with chronic physical pain are generally more than twice as likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors compared to those without chronic pain.
At the end of the appointment, I discussed with the gynecologist that they’re screening for depression but not specifically suicide risk and talked about using the PHQ-3, the PHQ-9, and possibly the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale as a screener for suicide risk.
Large-scale clinical studies show that any positive response on item 9 is a powerful, statistically significant predictor of future suicide attempts and suicidal behavior. The risk increases with the reported frequency of the thoughts. Individuals who answer "nearly every day" have a multi-fold higher statistical risk of subsequent suicidal behavior compared to those who answer "not at all”.
We all have a role to play in suicide prevention.
