The Insomnia-Suicide Link Across the Life Cycle: a Review

Purposeof Review The purpose of this review is to examine the literature regarding the link between suicidal ideation and behavior with insomnia and briefly discuss how treatment of the latter may reduce the former. Recent Findings We considered the literature in three categories: adolescents, non-elderly adults and elderly adults. Each group had distinct presentations; adolescents displayed increased hopelessness as insomnia symptom severity increased, non-elderly adults displayed elevated rates of impulsive behavior and lastly older persons displayed increasing and persistent levels of depression related to thwarted belongingness as they transitioned into late life. Possible mechanisms underlying the suicide-insomnia link varied with each group; however, increasing insomnia symptom severity increased risk for suicide for all groups.