2023-09-08 09:52:35
Patients with pathologies are very likely to experience suicidal ideation. On the occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day, the SEPD demands an approach focused on suicide.
For some experts, dual pathology is the disease most prone to suffering from suicidal ideation. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAG
Patients with dual pathology are those who suffer in a simultaneous manner an addiction and a mental disorder.
According to data extracted from Madrid Studiothe main epidemiological study carried out in Spain on the prevalence of dual pathology, More than 40% of patients with dual pathology present suicidal thoughts.
According to the doctor Miguel Ruiz Veguilla, psychiatrist at the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville and member of the executive committee of the Spanish Society of Dual Pathology (SEPD).), these figures make dual pathology the disease with increased risk of suicide.
Profiles more likely to present suicidal behavior
“Having an addiction greatly increases the risk of suicide. And having an addiction and another mental disorder increases that risk even more,” says the expert when referring to patients with a dual pathology.
According to SEPD experts, dual patients with psychosis, major affective disorders such as depression and mood disorders personality with great impulsivity and negative emotionalitysuch as borderline personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder, are the profiles most likely to present suicidal behaviors.
On the other hand, according to the data of the Suicide Risk Prevention Retirement Program (PRISURE) of the Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health of the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital in Madrid60% of patients with moderate or somewhat suicidal risk would present problematic use of psychoactive substances.
Patients with dual pathology have a high probability of experiencing suicidal ideation. EFE/Andreu Dalmau
Suicide prevention in patients with dual pathology
The doctor Miguel Ruiz Veguilla considers that the two most effective interventions to prevent suicide are depression treatment y treatment of dual pathology.
For the expert, given that people who suffer from dual pathology have a higher risk of suicide than those who only have a substance use disorder or another mental disorder, it is essential to first detect dual illness as a prevention tool.
“The problem is that many times patients with dual pathology are faced with two parallel circuits, mental health and addictions, in which only the focus is placed on one of the mental disorders, forgetting the other and thus increasing the risk of suicide,” reflects the specialist.
The doctor considers that precisely the high numbers of suicidal patients demonstrate that the system of parallel circuits is an outdated approach to the disease that needs a “more comprehensive and coordinated” one.
The spokesman for the SEPD considers it necessary that the suicidal risk is kept in mind always in all mental disorders.
Since most patients with mental disorders are dual, points out as a “priority” that structured suicide risk prevention programs be organized that take into account those factors associated with compulsive substance use.
“Many overdose deaths are often mistakenly diagnosed as accidents, so the available data on the prevalence of dual suicide are certainly lower than the real data,” concludes the expert.
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