suicide blood test
A simple test to detect suicidal tendencies? Perhaps...
Mental illnesses are notoriously tricky to diagnose, and many patients suffer in silence until it's too late - too embarrassed or too incapacitated to ask for help. Wouldn't it be amazing if our bodies gave clues to call out problems we find difficult to voice?

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine recently published findings suggesting just that. They've found biomarkers in your blood will reveal thoughts of self-harm you've been concealing. Biomarkers are chemicals that show up in our bodies in response to different illnesses and conditions.

In studies stretching over the past decade, psychiatrist Alexander Niculescu III and his team have worked to find biomarkers that correspond to different psychological states, and their most recent work has been biomarkers that indicate suicidal tendencies. Taking nine male subjects who suffered from bipolar disorder and had experienced a recent, sudden onset of suicidal thoughts, the team was able to identify one protein in the blood - called SAT1 - as a likely candidate. They then compared the results to samples obtained from the blood of men who had actually died from self-inflicted wounds. The same protein was present, and in even higher concentrations.

Using test for SAT1, the team was also able to correctly predict whether or not a patient in a high-risk group would be hospitalized for a suicide attempt 80 per cent of the time. Not a perfect score, but certainly encouraging for the research.

There are some difficulties with the study, of course.

For one, nine people is a very small test group, and all of the test subjects were men. Not only that, but all men who suffered from bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, which are certainly high-risk groups for suicide attempts, but don't exactly cover the full spectrum of those who might be contemplating self-harm.

Biomarkers also tend to be unpopular with mental health professionals in terms of diagnosis and they raise flags about the potential for discrimination. But this discovery could provide another piece of the puzzle when it comes to unraveling the chemical mysteries in our brains.

While we wait for further research on the topic, to anyone in crisis now: please reach out to a loved one, or one of the crisis centres across Canada or in your country.