Research Roundup June 2026: Recently Published Findings From AFSP-Funded Studies

The Research Roundup is a regular update of recently published findings in suicide prevention research. AFSP-funded studies included in this roundup examined how…

• Lithium changed brain activity patterns in survivors of suicide attempts
• Culturally responsive family care may reduce suicide risk in Latinx youth
• A recent evidence update highlights progress in treatments for youth self-injury, and
• Opioid prescribing patterns may help identify elevated suicide prevention needs

Researcher: Alan Swann, MD
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine
Grant Type: 2017 Focus Grant — $975,000
Grant Title: Behavioral Mechanisms, Prediction, and Treatment of Short-Term Suicide Risk

Lithium has long been studied for its association with lower suicide risk, particularly among people with mood disorders such as bipolar disorder and major depression. Researchers are still working to understand why lithium may have this protective effect and what changes in the brain may accompany treatment. One area of interest is brain regulation: the balance of activity that helps the brain process emotion, respond to stress, control impulses, and support decision-making. Gamma-band activity, a fast pattern of brain signaling involved in attention, information processing, and coordination across brain networks, may offer one window into these regulatory processes. Understanding these mechanisms could help the field move beyond knowing that lithium may reduce suicide risk and toward understanding how that protection may occur biologically.

With his AFSP-funded grant, Dr. Alan Swann examined how short-term lithium treatment affected brain activity in survivors of medically severe suicide attempts using resting-state electroencephalography (EEG), a noninvasive method that measures electrical activity in the brain. Participants completed EEG recordings before treatment, after four weeks of lithium, and after four weeks of placebo treatment. Dr. Swann found that lithium produced measurable changes in brain signaling patterns linked to excitation and inhibition balance, which reflects how the brain regulates and stabilizes neural activity. Specifically, lithium increased gamma-band activity, while also altering broader background activity patterns associated with cortical regulation. These findings suggest that lithium may help improve the coordination and stability of brain networks involved in impulse control and emotional regulation, processes closely tied to suicidal behavior and suicide attempt recurrence. 

Citation: Murphy, N., Thomas, Y. T., Murgulet, I., Shah, K., Engelhardt, J., Moukaddam, N. J., Kosten, T. R., Mathew, S. J., & Swann, A. C. (2026). Short-term lithium treatment modulates excitation/inhibition balance in resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) among survivors of medically severe suicide attempts. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000857    

Researcher: Dr. Yovanska Duarté-Vélez, PhD
Institution: Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital
Grant Type: 2023 Focus Grant — $1,500,000
Grant Title: A New Clinical Model for the Engagement of Latinx Youth with Suicidal Behavior and their Families in a Culturally Centered CBT Treatment

Latinx and Hispanic youth in the United States may face suicide risk within a broader context of cultural transition, family stress, and uneven access to support. For immigrant families, adapting to life in a new country can involve learning new systems, navigating language barriers, managing financial strain, and responding to discrimination or anti-immigrant stress. At the same time, youth and caregivers may adapt to U.S. culture at different rates, creating “acculturation gaps” in how they understand independence, family expectations, communication, and identity. During adolescence, when young people are already working to define who they are and where they belong, these gaps can create painful misunderstandings between youth and caregivers. Helping families recognize and talk through these differences may be an important part of supporting connection, reducing distress, and responding to suicide risk after a crisis.

Dr. Yovanska Duarté-Vélez used data from her AFSP-funded work to describe how culturally responsive interventions can help address suicide risk among Latinx and Hispanic youth and their families following a suicidal crisis. Drawing from the Socio-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicidal Behaviors (SCBT-SB) framework, Dr. Duarté-Vélez highlighted how clinicians can support youth and caregivers in understanding the role of acculturation, cultural identity, and family communication in shaping emotional distress. She described how acculturation conflicts can contribute to disconnection and intensify suicide risk when left unaddressed. Through a clinical case example, Dr. Duarté-Vélez illustrated how helping both youth and caregivers better understand each other’s lived experiences, fears, and cultural perspectives can strengthen communication, empathy, and emotional connection within the family. She also emphasized the importance of maintaining supportive ties to cultural traditions and community resources as protective factors. Overall, her work highlights how culturally informed, family-centered approaches may help reduce suicide risk by addressing the broader social and cultural experiences shaping youth mental health.

Citation: Duarté‐Vélez, Y., Jiménez‐Colon, G., & Aiello, M. (2025). Bridging acculturation gaps in Latinx and Hispanic families after a youth's suicidal crisis. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 41(11), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbl.30907     

Researchers: Catherine Glenn, PhD
Institution: Old Dominion University
Grant Type: 2020 Pilot Research Grant — $29,840
Grant Title: Examining the Neurobiology of Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents

Youth suicide and self-injury remain urgent public health concerns, and identifying treatments that meaningfully reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors is a critical priority in child and adolescent mental health care. As new clinical trials are conducted, researchers regularly re-evaluate the strength of evidence supporting different interventions, examining whether findings replicate in multiple studies across settings, populations, and independent research teams. These evidence-based updates help clarify which treatments have the strongest support, which approaches remain promising and preliminary, and where additional research is still needed to improve care for youth experiencing suicide risk and self-injury.

With her AFSP-funded work, Dr. Catherine Glenn conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials published between 2018 and 2024 on psychosocial treatments for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in youth. Using established evidence-rating criteria, treatments were classified across levels ranging from “experimental” and “possibly efficacious” to “probably efficacious” and “well-established,” based on factors such as replication, study quality, and consistency of results. The review found that Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) remains the only well-established psychosocial treatment for reducing self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in youth, and was newly elevated to well-established status for reducing adolescent suicide attempts following additional successful randomized trials. Family Therapy was reclassified as probably efficacious for reducing suicidal ideation; and one cognitive behavioral therapy approach that combines individual and family components was reclassified as experimental for reducing suicide attempts due to inconsistent findings across studies. Several newer interventions, such as including emotion regulation, mindfulness, and safety-planning approaches, also showed encouraging but still developing evidence. Overall, the findings highlight both the meaningful progress and ongoing challenges involved in building a rigorous evidence base for youth suicide prevention treatments.

Citation: Erika C. Esposito, Kinjal K. Patel, Sunday Hull, Camille N. Johnson, Maya A. Patel & Catherine R. Glenn (2026): Evidence Base Update of Psychosocial Treatments for Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors in Youth: 2018–2024, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2026.2613368   

Researcher: Gabrielle Campbell
Institution: University of New South Wales (Australia)  
Grant Type: 2020 Young Investigator Grant — $89,959
Grant Title: Opioid Use in People with Chronic Pain and Associations with Suicidal Behaviors and Suicide: A Population-Based Data Linkage Cohort Study

Prescription opioids can play an important role in pain management, but they also require careful monitoring, especially when used at higher doses or over longer periods of time. One concern in suicide prevention is whether greater access to opioid medications may increase risk for self-harm or suicide by poisoning. At the same time, this relationship is not simple: people prescribed long-term or high-dose opioids may also be living with chronic pain, complex health needs, substance use concerns, or mental health conditions that can independently increase suicide risk. Understanding whether opioid prescribing patterns are linked to different methods of self-harm and suicide can help clinicians better identify when additional screening, support, and safety planning may be needed.

With her AFSP-funded work, Dr. Gabrielle Campbell analyzed data from more than 3.2 million adults in Australia who initiated a prescription opioid between 2003 and 2018, examining associations between opioid exposure, dose, duration, self-harm hospitalization, and suicide death. During the study period, there were 49,215 self-harm hospitalizations and 3,086 suicide deaths. Opioid poisoning was the least common method for both self-harm hospitalizations and suicide deaths, suggesting that the relationship between opioid prescribing and suicide risk is more complex than access to opioids alone.

However, among the smaller proportion of events involving opioid poisoning, risk increased with current opioid exposure, longer cumulative duration, and higher daily dose, even after accounting for known suicide-related risk factors. For example, people with 151–180 days of opioid use in the past six months had a higher risk of opioid-related self-harm and suicide than those with no exposure, and the highest daily opioid doses were associated with substantially higher risk of suicide involving opioid poisoning. Overall, the findings suggest that suicide-related behaviors should be screened and monitored among people prescribed opioids, particularly those receiving long-term or high-dose opioid therapy, while recognizing that pain, mental health, and other co-occurring risks may also be central to prevention.

Citation: Campbell, G., Tran, D. T., Bharat, C. I., Degenhardt, L., Draper, B., Pearson, S.-A., … Havard, A. (2025). Risk of self-harm and suicide associated with the use of opioid analgesics. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10436  

Learn more about the AFSP research grants featured in this monthly roundup, as well as others, here.