Genetics of suicide-related behavior

The risk of suicide-related behavior is supposed to be determined by a complex interplay of sociocultural factors, traumatic events, psychiatric history, personality traits, and genetic vulnerability. This view is supported by adoption and family studies indicating that suicidal acts have a genetic contribution that is independent of the heritability of Axis I and II psychopathology. One of the largest epidemiological studies showed that the risk for suicide attempts increased by factor 4.2 when the biological mother or by the factor 3.3 when the biological father had committed a suicide attempt. This familial accumulation of suicidal behavior could be partly due to genetic risk factors. Strategies to find genetic risk factors for suicidal behavior (e. g. linkage, association or microarray studies) as well as the current developments in this field will be discussed and reviewed. There is hope that genetic studies can be successful in their search for genetic susceptibility factors, which can be used to identify at-risk individuals needing intensified care, and thus help to decrease the suicide rate.