A Systematic Review of Psychological Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Youth?

Description

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21295630

Sakchham Shukla and Madhurima Pradhan (Department of Psychology, University of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh)

Suicide is a leading cause of mortality among individuals aged 15-29 years globally. In India, the burden is particularly pronounced, yet systematic syntheses of age-specific psychological intervention evidence remain scarce. This systematic review intended to integrate evidence on structured psychological interventions for suicidal ideation, attempts, and self-harm among youth (aged 15-29 years) with a focus on relevance to the Indian sociocultural milieu. Methods Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar for studies from 2000 to 2023. Trials involving RCT or quasi-experimental designs were considered. Twenty articlesmet the inclusion criteria. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy had strong evidence for reduction in suicidal ideation and repeated self-harm. Task sharing Behavioral Activation models were encouraging in low resource Indian context. School-based and digital programmes broadened the preventive reach, albeit quality of evidence was inconsistent. Structured psychological interventions in general and CBT, DBT, and BA in particular show promising effects for youth suicidal behaviour. To confront the challenge of India’s youth suicide burden, scalable, culturally tailored, and systemually embedded implementation approaches are required.