In light of base rates, is there any concern that the existence of “several emergency crisis situations” in a 55-person trial suggests that VP treatment could increase the risk of those situations in the short run?
(This seems unlikely on its face, but I recall the now-disputed finding that SSRIs increase suicidal ideation and behavior among adolescents and young adults in the period shortly after they are initiated.)
Hi Jason, thank you so much for thoughtfully bringing up this important question. While we do concur that the likelihood of Vida Plena increasing suicidal risk is low, we firmly believe in the importance of considering all possibilities.
Firstly, we want to emphasize that we are following the suicidal risk protocols established by the expert team at the Global Mental Health Lab at Columbia University, and we have been fortunate to receive ongoing mentoring from them throughout the course of these cases.
Broadly speaking, research shows this is unlikely. For example, a literature review conducted by Dazzi in 2014 failed to uncover any evidence supporting “a statistically significant increase in suicidal ideation among participants asked about suicidal thoughts.” Instead, “The findings of this review suggest that in both adolescent and adult populations, acknowledging and talking about suicide may, in fact, reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation.”
More likely, we expect that our cultural context is an influential factor. Several practitioners we consulted with emphasized that due to the stigma surrounding mental health treatment in Latin America, the people who finally reach out to seek treatment are very likely facing more severe levels of mental distress compared to what is commonly observed in the US or UK.
This is a question we’ll be able to answer more fully once we conduct further monitoring and evaluation with a control group. We promise to keep you posted!
Thanks—that makes sense to me. And even an increase in reported ideation against controls wouldn’t necessarily tell us that the program increased suicial ideation as opposed to increasing willingness to report ideation that existed.
I’m pretty confident that the participants are better off for being enrolled in the Vida Plena program with proper protocols in place. However, if a relatively high rate of emergency crisis situations continues in future studies, it seems like that could be a major bottleneck / challenge for Vida Plena’s scalability.
In light of base rates, is there any concern that the existence of “several emergency crisis situations” in a 55-person trial suggests that VP treatment could increase the risk of those situations in the short run?
(This seems unlikely on its face, but I recall the now-disputed finding that SSRIs increase suicidal ideation and behavior among adolescents and young adults in the period shortly after they are initiated.)
Hi Jason, thank you so much for thoughtfully bringing up this important question. While we do concur that the likelihood of Vida Plena increasing suicidal risk is low, we firmly believe in the importance of considering all possibilities.
Firstly, we want to emphasize that we are following the suicidal risk protocols established by the expert team at the Global Mental Health Lab at Columbia University, and we have been fortunate to receive ongoing mentoring from them throughout the course of these cases.
Broadly speaking, research shows this is unlikely. For example, a literature review conducted by Dazzi in 2014 failed to uncover any evidence supporting “a statistically significant increase in suicidal ideation among participants asked about suicidal thoughts.” Instead, “The findings of this review suggest that in both adolescent and adult populations, acknowledging and talking about suicide may, in fact, reduce rather than increase suicidal ideation.”
More likely, we expect that our cultural context is an influential factor. Several practitioners we consulted with emphasized that due to the stigma surrounding mental health treatment in Latin America, the people who finally reach out to seek treatment are very likely facing more severe levels of mental distress compared to what is commonly observed in the US or UK.
This is a question we’ll be able to answer more fully once we conduct further monitoring and evaluation with a control group. We promise to keep you posted!
Thanks—that makes sense to me. And even an increase in reported ideation against controls wouldn’t necessarily tell us that the program increased suicial ideation as opposed to increasing willingness to report ideation that existed.
I’m pretty confident that the participants are better off for being enrolled in the Vida Plena program with proper protocols in place. However, if a relatively high rate of emergency crisis situations continues in future studies, it seems like that could be a major bottleneck / challenge for Vida Plena’s scalability.