Stress and Epigenetics in Suicide

Stress and Epigenetics in Suicidediscusses the central role of epigenetic modifications in suicidal behavior. As early-life stress and an individual's ability to cope with such stressors, combined with psychological factors, social factors, and existential and cognitive factors can predispose young people to suicidal behavior and put them at added risk of suicidal behavior later in life, this book provides readers with an overview of the neurobiology of stress, an introduction to the epigenetic changes induced by stress, and an understanding of how vulnerability and resilience to stress are built.

It integrates these mechanisms into a biobehavioral model of suicide based on epigenetic marks, gene-environment interactions, and other stressors. More importantly, it provides future direction for research and discusses potential interventions.

This book is an ideal and trusted resource for researchers and clinicians who are interested in learning how the environment can affect behavior through genetics, and for those seeking the development of new methods for suicide prevention.

• Explores the neurobiology of stress and stress-related epigenetics, including discussion of the role of stress-induced epigenetic changes in behavioral, emotional, and cognitive mechanisms and whether these epigenetic marks are transgenerational
• Provides compelling biobehavioral models of suicide based on genetics, epigenetics, and behavioral adjustment
• Integrates social, psychological, and existential influences, giving readers a better understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of suicide risk factors
• Presents future directions for suicide-prevention strategies that incorporate recent research on genomics and stress resilience

Researchers and advanced students in neuroendocrinology, neurobiology, behavioral neuroscience, neurology, and neuropsychology; secondary audience is clinicians in psychiatry, psychology, and other mental health practices

Chapter 1: Recent Tendencies in Suicide and Mental Health Among Younger Generations and Current Explanations

• Abstract
• Youth suicides—is it really growing worldwide?
• Suicide among young people in the European continent
• Children and adolescent suicides in the countries of the former USSR
• Youth suicides in Asia and the far East
• Situation in North America, Australia, and New Zealand
• Suicide among young people in Latin America and Africa
• Youth is under threat—preliminary conclusions
• Youth mental health problems—are they growing too?
• Subjective complaints in adolescents and values shift as signs of stress

Chapter 2: Neurobiology of Stress—From Homeostasis to Allostasis and How Social Environment is Involved

• Abstract
• Psychosocial stress and modernization
• Neuroendocrinology of stress response—how psychosocial stress affects health
• From homeostasis to allostasis and how social environment is involved
• Stress and the brain—mental health consequences
• Stress across the life-span and social factors

Chapter 3: What Is Epigenetics? Is It Transgenerational?

• Abstract
• Epigenetics—new life of old ideas and modern definitions
• Molecular mechanisms of epigenetics and epigenetic inheritance—a short review
• Epigenetics and ontogenetic programming
• Epigenetic events in preembryonic and early embryonic development
• Nutrition, body growth, and epigenetics of older age diseases
• Epigenetics of ecological hazards, in aging and cancer
• Epigenetic paradigm and evolutionary biology

Chapter 4: Biological Embedding—How Early Life Stress Shapes Behaviors Later in Life and How Vulnerability is Built

• Abstract
• Early life stress and behavioral epigenetics—animal models
• Early life stress and epigenetic programming of behavior and mental health in humans
• Life-time stress experiences and epigenetics
• Biological embedding—how social environment “gets under the skin”

Chapter 5: Interactions and Integrations—Biobehavioral Model of Suicide Based on Genetics, Epigenetics, and Behavioral Adjustment

• Abstract
• Theories and models of suicidal behavior—how they encounter stress
• Heritability of suicide—classical behavioral genetics studies
• Suicide genetics—genes-to-environment interactions and vulnerable phenotypes
• Epigenetic findings in suicide
• Biobehavioral-psychological-existential model of suicide

Chapter 6: Ideas for Prevention

• Abstract
• Conceptual framework and prevention strategies limitations
• How resilience is built? The earlier—the better
• Adolescents’ resilience—the power of body and mind
• Adolescents’ resilience—the power of meaning