LARC Mental Health Summit: Suicide Prevention

The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic has created a public health crisis of unprecedented magnitude. As the Louisiana Addiction Research Center (LARC) and others have recently described, the stress, economic insecurity, and breakdown in social support that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic are driving a mental health crisis, with dramatic increases in depression, anxiety, substance abuse, drug-related overdoses, and suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, younger adults, adolescents, racial/ethnic minorities, and essential workers (including frontline healthcare workers) show disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, increased substance use, and elevated suicidal ideation compared to the general population.

Front-line healthcare (essential) workers are faced with shortages of protective equipment, working for long hours, fear for their lives and their families, and social isolation. Over 20% of essential workers have reported seriously considering suicide in the preceding 30 days. It is also apparent that adolescents and young adults have been faced with disruptions of social connections during key developmental periods, disruption of their school schedule, and the breakdown in contact with friends during this pandemic. As with essential workers, over 25% of adolescents and young adults report significant suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation is particularly prevalent in younger adults and essential workers who are female or who are from underserved minority groups. Practicing psychiatrists and emergency physicians are dealing with this crisis in younger adults and essential workers with limited data with which to make evidence-based decisions, particularly as it relates to effective interventions that can be implemented while routine clinical care is hampered by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

This Research Topic will focus on understanding and addressing the mental health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as it relates to stress, social isolation and substance use. Submissions should discuss data from the national and local level and should provide structured discussions. Submissions should also present effective strategies for practicing psychiatrists and emergency physicians to implement so as to identify those patients most at risk of suicide while preserving and protecting the mental health of these patients. Strategies such as telemedicine and mindfulness training that can be implemented during social distancing will be highlighted.

Opportunities for dealing with the compounding deleterious impact of social media will also be discussed. This Research Topic will provide explanations of and tools for individuals, psychiatrists and emergency physicians to use to protect adolescents, young adults, essential workers, women and people of underserved minority communities, as well as the general community from suicide and other adverse mental health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.