Auditory verbal hallucinations increase the risk for suicide attempts in adolescents with suicidal ideation

It is important to prevent patients with suicidal ideation from actually attempting suicide. A school based cohort study suggested that auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) might play an important role in driving young people with mental health problems to attempt suicide. However, no clinical study to date has specifically investigated the association between AVHs and suicide attempts among young patients with suicidal ideation.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of first-visit psychiatric referrals aged 10-15years at two general child and adolescent mental health hospitals in Japan. We administered self-reported questionnaires to measure suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, AVHs, and depression in the two weeks prior to the date of first-visit.

Among 188 patients with suicidal ideation, the presence of AVHs was associated with increased odds of suicide attempts (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.7-6.9; p<0.05); however, depression was not associated with a significant change of odds (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4-1.3; p=0.29).

AVHs may increase the risk of suicide attempts made by adolescents with suicidal ideation. Clinicians should consider AVHs when adolescent patients present with suicidal ideation.