Citation

Nestadt PS, Athey A. Lancet Psychiatry 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00448-X

PMID

34921801

Abstract

Psychiatric illnesses are often distressing and disabling, but there are generally two main ways they can be acutely fatal--through overdose and suicide. The overdose epidemic has forced the recognition of opioid dependence as a potentially deadly disease, while suicide remains an underappreciated global public health crisis. Opioid dependence and suicide share several key risk factors, including childhood adversity, chronic pain, psychiatric illness, loneliness, impulsivity, Indigenous identity leading to ethnic discrimination, and male sex. The relationship between opioid use and depression is complex, bidirectional, and robust. The populations at risk and circumstances proximal to death are so similar that coroners are often unable to determine if an overdose death was intentional or the unintended consequence of opioid misuse...

Language: en