ABSTRACT
About 30,000 persons die by suicide each year in the United States alone (Botsis et al., 1997). It is the second or third (depending on the age group and sex) most frequent cause of death for teenagers in the United States (CDC, 2011; Lowy et al., 1984; Moscicki et al., 1988). In 2006, the age-adjusted suicide rate among youth aged 10-19 years in the United States was 4.16 per 100,000. Among this population, the rate of suicide increases with age, and the suicide rate is substantially higher in boys than in girls-in boys between ages 18 and 19 years, the suicide rate is 15-20 per 100,000, and in girls, the rate is 3-4 per 100,000 (Bridge et al., 2006; CDC, 2011). In adults, suicidal behavior is a major symptom of depression and other psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, alcoholism, and personality disorders. Besides psychiatric illnesses, other risk factors include a family history of suicide and a family history of psychiatric disorders and alcoholism, psychosocial stressors, impulsivity, and aggression (Joiner et al., 2005). Abnormalities in neurobiological mechanisms may also be a predisposing or risk factor (Mann et al., 1999; Underwood et al., 2004). Studies conducted on patients with suicidal behavior (Pandey et al., 1995) and on postmortem brain samples from suicide victims (Pandey et al., 2002a) strongly suggest that suicide is associated with neurobiological abnormalities.
