Is There a Case for Anaphylactic Suicide?

(R. Copelan, MD: MedPage Today, January 18, 2022) 

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This "IT" factor (imminent self-toxicity) is persuasive, not subject to personal control, and deadly.

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The common sources of anaphylaxis are foods and drugs. However, some cases of atypical, rapidly progressive, and deadly "anaphylactic suicide" have been reported in youth and young adults where parents and others stated "We had no red flags." "No one saw it coming.

 

These cases, defined by acute underlying psychological factors where other causes were excluded, demonstrated no positive response to current and usual suicidal ideation assessment or therapeutic intervention.

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Dr. Copelan, Founder & President of eMed Logic, in future collaboration with multiple national and international research centers, will explore whether suicide, in some cases, could be motivated by a genetically predisposed self-destructive process and identified and managed with pioneering probabilistic evaluation. 

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Study questions will include:

 

1. Might adjustment disorder (AD) with interpersonal threats of humiliation at home, work and school lead to unobvious agonizing cries of apprehension and impending doom with total self-destruction?

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3. Could a meaningful or unanticipated stress be capable of provoking a heretofore "inside out" unrecognized "red flag" reaction with hijacking or shutting-down of cognitive brain function?

 

4. Can the resultant kindling of this dysexecutive process be identified, prevented, and managed with an innovative assessment and algorithm once begun?

 

Intriguing clues have been reported recently. Post mortem and post resuscitation  studies have demonstrated associations between suicide and brain mediated pathways involved in emotional and social behavior, inhibition of unwanted actions, and thus suicidal vulnerability.

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With your generous donation, this groundbreaking study may, at long last, reduce some of these awful tragedies.