With 29,000 annual victims, SUICIDE is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Alcohol and illicit drugs are involved in about 50 percent of all suicide attempts. About 25 percent of completed suicides occur among alcoholics and drug abusers. Substance abuse among young adults is largely responsible for the increased suicide rates under age thirty.

The relationship between substance abuse and suicidal behavior has been more extensively studied for alcoholism than for drug abuse. To evaluate this relationship, it is helpful to understand the statistical association between ALCOHOL and drug abuse and suicide, to learn which substance abusers are at particular risk to attempt or commit suicide, and to appreciate howthis knowledge may be used to prevent suicide.

Substance Abuse Increases Suicide Risk

Suicides are not random; each occurs in a particular context. The association between specific psychiatric syndromes—such as DEPRESSION...