@article{ref1,
title="Eyes fixed on Heaven's Gate: an empirical examination of blink rate and suicide",
journal="Archives of suicide research",
year="2022",
author="Duffy, Mary E. and Buchman-Schmitt, Jennifer M. and McNulty, James K. and Joiner, Thomas E.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="Anecdotal and theoretical work suggests blink rate as an indicator of imminent suicide risk. We sought to empirically examine whether suicide decedents displayed a reduced blink rate in goodbye videos filmed before death, compared to several control groups. Independent raters coded blink rates from videos of 34 suicide decedents and four comparison groups: &quot;mundane&quot; product review, non-suicidal arousal, non-suicidal depression, and non-imminent risk of suicidal ideation. Mean blink rate was lower in the suicide decedent group relative to all comparison groups (ps <.001), except the depressed (p =.976) and suicidal ideation (p =.393) groups. <br><br>FINDINGS indicate blink rate may be reduced among individuals at imminent risk for suicide, exhibiting clinically-significant depressive symptoms, or experiencing suicidal ideation.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1381-1118",
doi="10.1080/13811118.2022.2083536",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2022.2083536"
}