Suicide in the elderly

Suicide is a major public health problem, with rates rising to their highes t levels in many countries and cultures during the second half of life. The risk factors that contribute to later-life suicide are distinctive from th ose in younger populations. This paper reviews a variety of potential appro aches for effective suicide prevention among elders, and considers as well both age-specific and general barriers that impede such efforts. It propose s that future effective measures will need to integrate public health and i ndividual-oriented therapeutic approaches to intervention, and that specifi c efforts will need to be developed to address the natural history of suici dal processes.