Why Study Suicide?: An Interview with Dr. Richard T. Liu
Natasha Kulviwat
Since 2000s, the global suicide death rate continues to rise by more than 36% annually, amassing over 1 million deaths per year. Yet, there are a paucity of studies in the field to mitigate the continually rising death rate. After all, people often ask, “Why study suicide?” “Isn’t it unusual to want to research death?”
To further understand what compels exceptional people to research this topic, I took the time to interview Dr. Richard T. Liu, a Principal Investigator of the Mood and Behavior Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been conducting suicide research for nearly a decade and has spearheaded countless studies assessing predictive markers for adolescent suicide risk.
NK: Hello Dr. Liu. Thank you so much for taking the time to interview with me today.
RTL: Thank you for the invitation to interview!
NK: To start us off, I would like to ask. Suicide is undoubtedly a heavy topic that not many researchers pursue. Could you tell us about the defining moment that made you decide to pursue suicide research?
RTL: In my fifth year of graduate school, I happened to come across a commentary noting how there had only been 40 randomized controlled trials conducted at that time on preventing suicidal outcomes. This was in part due to how much work remained to be done to understand what puts people at risk for these outcomes. As someone coming from a background in depression research, I found this a striking and concerning contrast with the existence of multiple established treatments for depression. Although depression continues to be a major focus of my work, and there is certainly continued need for improvements in prevention and treatment for this disorder, this commentary motivated me to make suicide prevention a central goal of my research.
NK: How do you predict progress in the mental health and suicide field this 20 years in the future? Are there any promising breakthroughs you anticipate?
RTL: Depression and suicide, particularly in youth, have been increasing across the country for over roughly 20 years. One indicator of tangible progress I therefore hope to see is a decline in these outcomes at the national level over the next 20. I hope that new developments in rapid-acting therapeutics may lead to breakthroughs in treatments for individuals at risk for these outcomes.
NK: I know this may be synonymous to asking someone to pick their favorite child but of all your research papers, what was your favorite study and why?
RTL: This is a tough question! One of my earlier papers was based on an idea I had when I was a graduate student, and it was several years before I finally put it into a paper. It draws from the concept of the steeling effect, the notion that moderate early adversity helps one develop resilience against future adversity. An implication of this that I elaborated on in my paper was that having too little exposure to early adversity is detrimental to later functioning. Working on this paper really challenged me to develop my conceptual skills integrating different bodies of literature from social, developmental, and clinical psychology, an experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Liu RT. A developmentally informed perspective on the relation between stress and psychopathology: When the problem with stress is that there is not enough. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2015 124:80-92. doi:10.1037/abn0000043
NK: What are your plans for the future? It doesn't have to be solely professional pursuits.
RTL: In the past year, there was a US Senate congressional hearing on social media and youth mental health, the surgeon general issued a warning on this issue, and the American Psychological Association issued guidance on social media use for adolescents. Clearly, there is a lot of concern at the moment about the effects of social media on youths' mental well-being, but the exact nature of this relationship remains poorly understood and is likely complex, with both positive and negative factors. A project I am embarking on to address this issue and which has me excited is a new study to examine how the content of youths' social media exchanges relate to their mental health in real time.
NK: Undoubtedly, young adults, especially college students who have to adapt to a rapidly evolving set of intellectual and social demands, face experience a multitude of mental and emotional stressors on a daily basis, which may lead to intentions of self-harm or suicidal ideation. What piece of advice would you give to college students who may be struggling with these issues today?
RTL: In college, grades can often seem of outsized importance, and a lot of the stress from college can come from this. Although grades are indeed important, the difference between a 3.7 and 4.0 GPA is not quite so for many of the things that come after college. This is a very unique time in your life, with unique opportunities truly to explore and discover new interests. I recommend taking the opportunity to expose yourself to new classes in interesting but unfamiliar areas, to make the most of this time building your friendships and shared experiences, and also to take some time simply to enjoy yourself.
About the Author
Natasha Kulviwat (‘28) is a freshman at Harvard College concentrating in Neuroscience (MBB).
References
To further understand what compels exceptional people to research this topic, I took the time to interview Dr. Richard T. Liu, a Principal Investigator of the Mood and Behavior Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He has been conducting suicide research for nearly a decade and has spearheaded countless studies assessing predictive markers for adolescent suicide risk.
NK: Hello Dr. Liu. Thank you so much for taking the time to interview with me today.
RTL: Thank you for the invitation to interview!
NK: To start us off, I would like to ask. Suicide is undoubtedly a heavy topic that not many researchers pursue. Could you tell us about the defining moment that made you decide to pursue suicide research?
RTL: In my fifth year of graduate school, I happened to come across a commentary noting how there had only been 40 randomized controlled trials conducted at that time on preventing suicidal outcomes. This was in part due to how much work remained to be done to understand what puts people at risk for these outcomes. As someone coming from a background in depression research, I found this a striking and concerning contrast with the existence of multiple established treatments for depression. Although depression continues to be a major focus of my work, and there is certainly continued need for improvements in prevention and treatment for this disorder, this commentary motivated me to make suicide prevention a central goal of my research.
NK: How do you predict progress in the mental health and suicide field this 20 years in the future? Are there any promising breakthroughs you anticipate?
RTL: Depression and suicide, particularly in youth, have been increasing across the country for over roughly 20 years. One indicator of tangible progress I therefore hope to see is a decline in these outcomes at the national level over the next 20. I hope that new developments in rapid-acting therapeutics may lead to breakthroughs in treatments for individuals at risk for these outcomes.
NK: I know this may be synonymous to asking someone to pick their favorite child but of all your research papers, what was your favorite study and why?
RTL: This is a tough question! One of my earlier papers was based on an idea I had when I was a graduate student, and it was several years before I finally put it into a paper. It draws from the concept of the steeling effect, the notion that moderate early adversity helps one develop resilience against future adversity. An implication of this that I elaborated on in my paper was that having too little exposure to early adversity is detrimental to later functioning. Working on this paper really challenged me to develop my conceptual skills integrating different bodies of literature from social, developmental, and clinical psychology, an experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Liu RT. A developmentally informed perspective on the relation between stress and psychopathology: When the problem with stress is that there is not enough. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2015 124:80-92. doi:10.1037/abn0000043
NK: What are your plans for the future? It doesn't have to be solely professional pursuits.
RTL: In the past year, there was a US Senate congressional hearing on social media and youth mental health, the surgeon general issued a warning on this issue, and the American Psychological Association issued guidance on social media use for adolescents. Clearly, there is a lot of concern at the moment about the effects of social media on youths' mental well-being, but the exact nature of this relationship remains poorly understood and is likely complex, with both positive and negative factors. A project I am embarking on to address this issue and which has me excited is a new study to examine how the content of youths' social media exchanges relate to their mental health in real time.
NK: Undoubtedly, young adults, especially college students who have to adapt to a rapidly evolving set of intellectual and social demands, face experience a multitude of mental and emotional stressors on a daily basis, which may lead to intentions of self-harm or suicidal ideation. What piece of advice would you give to college students who may be struggling with these issues today?
RTL: In college, grades can often seem of outsized importance, and a lot of the stress from college can come from this. Although grades are indeed important, the difference between a 3.7 and 4.0 GPA is not quite so for many of the things that come after college. This is a very unique time in your life, with unique opportunities truly to explore and discover new interests. I recommend taking the opportunity to expose yourself to new classes in interesting but unfamiliar areas, to make the most of this time building your friendships and shared experiences, and also to take some time simply to enjoy yourself.
About the Author
Natasha Kulviwat (‘28) is a freshman at Harvard College concentrating in Neuroscience (MBB).
References
- Bailey RK, Patel TC, Avenido J, et al. (2011) Suicide: Current Trends. Journal of the National Medical Association. 103(7), 614-617. doi:10.1016/S0027-9684(15)30388-6
- Naghavi, M. (2019). Global, regional, and national burden of suicide mortality 1990 to 2016: systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. bmj, 364.
- Pompili, M. (2012). Suicide: A global perspective. Bentham Science Publishers.
- Sinyor M, Tse R, Pirkis J. (2017). Global trends in suicide epidemiology. Curr Opin Psychiatry. Jan;30(1), 1-6. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000296. PMID: 27845946.
- Wasserman, D. (Ed.). (2016). Suicide: an unnecessary death. Oxford University Press.
- World Health Organization. (2019). Suicide: One person dies every 40 seconds. World Health
- Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/09-09-2019-suicide-one-person-dies-every-40-seconds