Problem of suicide risk diagnostics and possibility to use implicit association test

If we make a search for the term suicide in the database PsycARTICLES, we will find 1732 articles published from 1898 till 2013. The dynamics of the scientific interest towards the problem is following: 127 articles were published from 1981 till 1991, 596 articles were published from 1992 till 2002; finally, 830 articles were published from 2003 till 2013. The rise of the research interest is obvious. The more detailed analysis of the articles showed that there are different models explaining suicide (for example: medical, philosophical, psychological and sociological). The different interacting predictors of suicide were revealed in the numerous studies: sociocultural, psychosocial, and biological ones. The preventive measures are already worked out and the new ones are in the process of validation. Having such a rich and complex scientific knowledge and practical tools to handle the problem the statistics say that the number of suicides continues to grow. The brief literature review is focused on the problem of the diagnostics of suicide risk. The potential of the implicit associations test for the diagnostics of suicide risk is discussed in this paper.

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