Suicide and emotional distress

My interests are broadly around predicting and preventing suicide and emotional distress. I have approached this from two perspectives: ecological (how do the physical and social environment shape our experience of distress and influence suicide rates?) and psychological (what are the psychological predictors of suicide risk?). Both approaches help us to better understand suicide risk and to develop more accurate models of suicide risk formulation.

Some of the projects I have worked on are:

  • An analysis of the roles of impulsivity and aggression in suicidality.

  • A collaboration with NHS24 (Breathing Space) to look at physical and social environmental predictors of emotional distress and suicide across Scotland. 

  • A project with the Tay Road Bridge (Dundee) to identify times of high risk for suicidal behaviour.

  • An analysis of data from historical newspaper archives to identify shifting trends in suicide rates across periods of greater and lesser gender quality in the Scottish city of Dundee.

  • Investigation of the experience of suicide risk assessment of mental health professionals in NHS Tayside and NHS Highland.

I am trained in Psychological Autopsy (American Association of Suicidology) which enabled me to work as psychological consultant for the Tayside Multiagency Suicide Review Group. This group conducts reviews of all deaths by suicide in NHS Tayside, Scotland. As part of this, I worked with a number of MSc students to compile a comprehensive database of case information to enable ongoing systematic reviews and analyses.

I established and led the Tayside Suicide Research Network - a collaboration of academics across disciplines and professionals from across the community, with the aim of knowledge sharing and research collaboration to better understand suicide. I hosted monthly seminars and the group produced a number of interdisciplinary collaborations.

I am currently supervising PhD student Charlotte Starkey (University of Dundee), who is exploring the associations between masculinity and suicide.

Funding: This work has been been funded by the Richard Benjamin Trust and the University of Dundee.