Real-time assessment of suicidal thoughts and behaviors

One of the greatest challenges to understanding, predicting, and preventing suicide is that we have never had the ability to observe and intervene upon them as they unfold in real-time. Recently developed real-time monitoring methods are creating new opportunities for scientific and clinical advances. For instance, recent real-time monitoring studies of suicidal thoughts show that they typically are episodic, with quick onset and short duration. Many known risk factors that predict changes in suicidal thoughts over months/years (e.g. hopelessness) do not predict changes over hours/days - highlighting the gap in our abilities for short-term prediction. Current and future studies using newer streams of data from smartphone sensors (e.g. GPS) and wearables (e.g. heart rate) are further expanding knowledge and clinical possibilities.