Psychiatric Disorders and Suicidality in the Intensive Care Unit

Suicidality is a general term that describes the continuum of suicidal ideation, intent, self-injurious behavior, attempts, and completed suicide. Suicidality across the entire spectrum is a public health concern with significant impact, including billions in work loss and medical costs. There are many challenges to managing suicidality in an intensive care unit setting, which will be reviewed here. Additionally, this article will review the prevalence of suicide attempts in different psychiatric diagnoses, conducting a suicide assessment, role of involuntary psychiatric holds, and most common challenges encountered in the ICU setting.