Predictors of Suicidal Behavior Found In Blood 209
ananyo writes "Researchers may have found a way to potentially predict suicidal behaviour by analyzing someone's blood. Using blood samples taken by the coroner from nine men who had committed suicide, they found six molecular signs, or biomarkers, that they say can identify people at risk of committing suicide. To check whether these biomarkers could predict hospitalizations related to suicide or suicide attempts, the researchers analysed gene-expression data from 42 men with bipolar disorder and 46 men with schizophrenia. When the biomarkers were combined with clinical measures of mood and mental state, the accuracy with which researchers could predict hospitalizations was more than 80% (abstract)."
Re:I disagree (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine having to make a rational decision as to the benefits and costs of continued existence, Most people, aside from the very aged and the very depressed would value continued existence quite highly. Now imagine that you were suffering from a mental condition that exaggerated the costs, and downplayed the benefits, such that every day you took time out of your life to seriously contemplate this otherwise laughable dilemma. What if the only thing preventing the suicide was logistical? What if you worried about how hard it would for someone to find your body and clean up the blood and brains? Is that sort of concern really a sign of a healthy mind?
"My life is worthless, but I don't want to be a bother?"