The brain scan that can spot a suicide risk

BRAIN scans could be used to identify people who are at risk of suicide, scientists say.

More than 6,000 people a year kill themselves in Britain, with men in their 40s most at risk and female suicide rates at their highest in a decade.

Many show no sign of their dark thoughts until it is too late, but a study has found clear warning signals in their brain cells.

Doctors could identify who is at risk using brain imaging technology to record their response to certain words, including ‘death’, ‘cruelty’, carefree’ and ‘good’.

The word ‘death’, for example, creates more shame in those thinking of suicide, which creates a specific brain pattern. When US researchers analysed these patterns, they were able to identify, with 91 per cent accuracy, those with suicidal thoughts.

They also determined who had made a previous suicide attempt, with 94 per cent accuracy.

Lead author Dr Marcel Just of Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, said: ‘This sheds light on how suicidal individuals think about suicide and emotion-related concepts.’

The researchers, whose study appears in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, looked at 17 people with suicidal tendencies and 17 healthy people. Their brains were scanned for four ‘signature’ emotions which create a clear pattern – sadness, shame, anger and pain – while they were given the list of trigger words.

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