Publication covering our Army STARRS JAMA Psychiatry article. Read more about Combat Stress Isn't Lead Suicide Cause (WSJ)

Suicide kills twice as many people as murder each year in the United States, and rates in the military recently surpassed those among civilians. But while scientists have identified some risk factors for suicide—being white, being male, substance abuse, mental illness—they still have little idea what spurs people to take their own lives.

Nock’s long-term goal is to vastly improve the ways in which suicide is predicted, and prevented.

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already received at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled youths, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers.