Social isolation and suicide risk: Literature review and perspectives

BackgroundSuicide is a major public health problem and a cause of premature mortality. With a view to prevention, a great deal of research has been devoted to the determinants of suicide, focusing mostly on individual risk factors, particularly depression. In addition to causes intrinsic to the indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European psychiatry 2022-10, Vol.65 (1), p.e65-e65, Article e65
Main Authors: Motillon-Toudic, Chloé, Walter, Michel, Séguin, Monique, Carrier, Jean-Daniel, Berrouiguet, Sofian, Lemey, Christophe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cross-sectional studies
Ethnicity
Etiology
Extracurricular activities
Hispanic people
Hypotheses
Literature reviews
Older people
Public health
Questionnaires
Risk factors
Social integration
Social isolation
Social support
Students
Suicidal behavior
Suicide
suicide attempt
suicide ideation
suicide risk
Suicides & suicide attempts
White people
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Summary:BackgroundSuicide is a major public health problem and a cause of premature mortality. With a view to prevention, a great deal of research has been devoted to the determinants of suicide, focusing mostly on individual risk factors, particularly depression. In addition to causes intrinsic to the individual, the social environment has also been widely studied, particularly social isolation. This paper examines the social dimension of suicide etiology through a review of the literature on the relationship between suicide and social isolation.MethodsMedline searches via PubMed and PsycINFO were conducted. The keywords were “suicid*” AND “isolation.”ResultsOf the 2,684 articles initially retrieved, 46 were included in the review.ConclusionsSupported by proven theoretical foundations, mainly those developed by E. Durkheim and T. Joiner, a large majority of the articles included endorse the idea of a causal relationship between social isolation and suicide, and conversely, a protective effect of social support against suicide. Moreover, the association between suicide and social isolation is subject to variations related to age, gender, psychopathology, and specific circumstances. The social etiology of suicide has implications for intervention and future research.
ISSN:0924-9338
1778-3585
DOI:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2022.2320