SUICIDE IS INHERITABLE

A  study says that children whose parents attempted suicide are 5 times more likely to attempt suicide than another children which means suicide is also inherited.

 “In this high-risk longitudinal study, we found that parental suicide attempt conveyed a nearly 5-fold increased risk of offspring attempt, even controlling for the familial transmission of mood disorder,” explains lead study author David A Brent MD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre.

But the study not only confirmed suicidal behaviour can in fact run in families, but that these pathways for suicidal behaviour can be transmitted through families, almost pathologically.

Impulsive aggression played an important role in increasing the likelihood of an offspring suicide attempt, but it did so by increasing the risk of the subsequent development of a mood disorder, which in turn increased the risk of an attempt.

In this study, the researchers looked at 701 children (between the ages of 10 and 50) of 334 parents who had documented mood disorders. 191 of these parents had attempted suicide, and 44 percent of the offspring had followed suit before the study; 29 percent attempted suicide after during the study follow-up.