Critical appraisal of major depression with suicidal ideation
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Regardless of its nature, suicidal ideation, in the absence of another diagnosis, is quintessentially associated with major clinical depression. Although for the characteristics of being depressed it is reasonable to have some wish to die, there is no real attempt to understanding the suicidal mind. Clinicians are therefore often inclined to consider suicidal ideation a symptom of major depression. Yet, most depressed patients do not die by suicide, and many of them never experience suicidal ideation even in the most severe depressing scenario. At a closer look, when one works with suicidal individual, suicide appears complex and not line with the obsolete medical model. There are often warning signs for suicide, and suicidal individuals experience mental pain as a common denominator of many adverse events. CASE PRESENTATION: A case report of an entrepreneur with no previous psychiatric history describes the process of meditating suicide as a dimension overlapping the depressive disorder. Details of how this 63-year-old male developed high suicide risk are reported, and clinicians are guided into the understanding of suicide risk. CONCLUSIONS: Nowadays, clinicians are requested to provide an in-depth investigation into the suicidal mind, an assessment adjunctive to the psychiatric evaluation. A phenomenological approach may be the key to unlock the suicidal mind. Clinicians may use such tool in light of the need for the empathic understanding of human suffering as well as a paradigm shift in the care of suicidal individuals.
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- Authors
- Pompili, M.
- Affiliations
- Azienda Ospedaliera Sant'Andrea (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Pompili, Maurizio
- ORCID
- Pompili, Maurizio
- Venue
- Annals of General Psychiatry
- Published
- 2019-05-31
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7-7
- ISSN
- 1744-859X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6543655
- OpenAlex
- W2947722878
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 16.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annals of General Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- IRIS Research product catalog (Sapienza University of Rome) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, suicidal ideation, suicide risk assessment, phenomenological method, psychological suffering, empathic understanding
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