Government sets up funding to reduce suicide among college students

A new grant funded by the National Institutes of Menal Health (NIMH) will test an intervention designed to prevent or reduce suicide among college students.
Suicidal thinking and behavior among college students can result from a wide variety of problems including drug and alcohol abuse, mood disorders, problems in social relationships and physical health problems. Some research has suggested that a tendency to avoid unwanted emotions and negative thoughts can contribute to the problems that lead to suicide. Yet many college students who die by suicide never seek help within their institutions.
Steven Hayes, Ph.D. and Jacqueline Pistorello, Ph.D., of the University of Nevada Reno, will test an intervention called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which is based on the notion that acceptance and awareness of difficult emotions can help students reduce avoidance behavior and improve their psychological flexibility, which may reduce the frequency of problems that often precede suicide attempts. About 720 college freshmen will be randomized to receive either ACT or a brief educational course on adjusting to the challenges of college life.
For up to three years, the students will be assessed on a range of psychological, behavioral, health and academic aspects that are known to be associated with suicidal thinking and behavior, including self-injury and risky behaviors. If found to be successful in reducing suicide attempts and thinking, ACT could be readily disseminated within the college experience, and may be incorporated into a classroom-based approach that could have broad public health implications, according to the researchers.
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Cognitive-behavioral therapy fund effective for traumatized kids

Individual and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were the only interventions found effective in an evaluation of seven commonly-used approaches to reduce the psychological harm to youth who experience trauma.
Evidence for the five other interventions evaluated—play therapy, art therapy, psychodynamic therapy, pharmacologic therapy, and psychological debriefing—was found insufficient to judge effectiveness. The evaluation is one of a series of reviews of community health interventions carried out by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent, nonfederal group convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Task Force recommendations based on the reviews are incorporated in the Guide to Community Preventive Services, which summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease.
The number of children and adolescents in the U.S. exposed to trauma each year is substantial. National survey data from 2002 to 2003 on children ages 12 to 17 indicate that one in eight children experienced a form of child maltreatment, such as abuse or neglect; one in 12 experienced sexual victimization; and one in three witnessed or indirectly experienced violence or victimization, including rioting, assault, and theft. The psychological harm that can result from exposure of children to trauma includes post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, risk-taking and aggressive behavior, and substance abuse.
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