Patients at high risk of suicide before and during a COVID-19 lockdown: ecological momentary assessment study.
Aurora Cobo, Alejandro Porras-Segovia, María Mercedes Pérez-Rodríguez, Antonio Artés-Rodríguez, Maria Luisa Barrigón, Philippe Courtet, Enrique Baca-García
Author Information
Aurora Cobo: Department of Signal Theory, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain; and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Spain.
Alejandro Porras-Segovia: Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Spain; and Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Rey Juan Carlos, Spain. ORCID
María Mercedes Pérez-Rodríguez: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA.
Antonio Artés-Rodríguez: Department of Signal Theory, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain; and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Spain.
Maria Luisa Barrigón: Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Spain; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; and Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Spain. ORCID
Philippe Courtet: University of Montpellier & INSERM u1061, France.
Enrique Baca-García: Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Rey Juan Carlos, Spain; Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Spain; Nimes University Hospital, France; CIBERSAM, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Infanta Elena, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario Central de Villalba, Spain; and Universidad Católica del Maule, Chile. ORCID
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak may have affected the mental health of patients at high risk of suicide. In this study we explored the wish to die and other suicide risk factors using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in patients with a history of suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Contrary to our expectations we found a decrease in the wish to die during lockdown. This is consistent with previous studies showing that suicide rates decrease during periods of social emergency. Smartphone-based EMA can allow us to remotely assess patients and overcome the physical barriers imposed by lockdown.
