Study of 81,000 Adults Examines Mental Illness, Gun Violence and Suicide

Contact: Samiha Khanna Phone: [phone] Email: [e-mail] https://www.dukehealth.org
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE until 4 p.m. (ET) on MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016
DURHAM, N.C. -- People with serious mental illnesses who use guns to commit suicide are often legally eligible to purchase guns, despite having a past record of an involuntary mental health examination and brief hospitalization, according to a new Duke Health analysis.
The study, released in the June issue of Health Affairs, looked at gun use, violent crime and suicide among 81,704 people diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression in Florida’s Miami-Dade and Pinellas counties over 10 years starting in 2002.
Over that time, 254 study subjects committed suicide -- nearly four times the average suicide rate of the general adult population in Florida during the same period. 
Of the 50 people who used a gun to kill themselves, 72 percent were legally eligible to buy guns at the time of their deaths. The other 28 percent were not supposed to have or buy a gun, but used one to take their own lives.
Although this study is limited to a specific population -- adults involved in the public behavioral health system -- the findings can guide federal and state efforts to more precisely tailor mental-health related legal restrictions to reduce gun violence, the authors said. The study relied on a large volume of court and health records to examine the gun rights of people with serious mental health con...

Source: DukeHealth.org: Duke Health Features - June 7, 2016 Category: Pediatrics Tags: Duke Medicine Source Type: news