Monthly Counseling Shows 'Suicide Prevention Effect'... "70% Did Not Attempt Again"

Announcement from the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency of Korea
"Hospital and Community Interventions Are Needed"

A study has found that when medical staff provided monthly counseling and management to patients with depressive disorders who had previously attempted suicide, 7 out of 10 patients did not engage in suicidal behavior again.

According to the Patient-Centered Medical Technology Optimization Research Group (PACEN) at the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency of Korea, Professor Baek Jongwoo of Kyung Hee University School of Medicine conducted "hospital-based intensive case management" for patients with major depressive disorder who had suicidal ideation. The results showed a reduction in the rate of repeated suicide attempts.

The researchers divided 245 patients with major depressive disorder and suicidal thoughts into two groups for comparison. One group received monthly face-to-face counseling and case management from medical staff for six months, while the control group received standard care, visiting medical institutions as needed.

As a result, 70% of patients in the case management group did not attempt suicidal behavior again. This is 10 percentage points higher than the rate of cessation of repeated suicidal behavior in the control group (60%). Additionally, the proportion of patients with suicidal thoughts decreased by about 24% more in the case management group compared to the control group. When depressive and anxiety symptoms were measured by score, patients who received monthly management from medical staff showed improvements of 53% and 135%, respectively, compared to the control group. Separately, among patients who did not complete the six-month management period, only one patient in the hospital-based management group was hospitalized due to a repeated suicide attempt, whereas in the standard care group, five patients were hospitalized and one patient actually died. The researchers explained that these results demonstrate the contribution of hospital-based services to suicide prevention.

The research team emphasized, "We need to gradually expand the patient management system from hospital-centered interventions to primary care institutions and community mental health welfare centers," and added, "There is also a need for payment system design and institutional support to maintain the professionalism and quality management of case managers."

Meanwhile, as of 2023, South Korea's suicide rate is 27.3 per 100,000 people, the highest among OECD countries and more than double the OECD average (about 12 people).

※ If you are experiencing difficult emotions such as depression, or if you have a family member or acquaintance facing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour counseling from experts via the suicide prevention hotline ☎109 or the suicide prevention SNS counseling service "Madeulraen."