As there were more similarities than differences in health-care workers' attitudes toward suicide, recommendations on basic and continuous suicide prevention and management training among hospital workers were made. The interventions focused on improving knowledge, affective, and skill-based areas that were aimed to correct the wrongful understanding of and to minimize the negative attitudes toward suicidal individuals indicated by the study results.

Ketamine has shown effectiveness as a rapid-acting antidepressant with antisuicidal effects in terms of reduction of suicidal ideation in the short term. However, the evidence for long-term maintenance ketamine therapy for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and suicidal behavior is limited. This case series (N=13) highlights the role of adjunctive

Aim/background Even though dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) has received substantial empirical support in treating patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), fewer studies have evaluated whether a brief DBT skills group may be effective in improving clinical outcomes in this population. Further, less is known regarding the feasibility and outcomes of DBT beyond Euro-American contexts. This paper describes outcomes from a pilot study examining the feasibility, acceptability, and clinical outcomes following completion of a shortened, 14-week DBT skills group in a sample of Muslim-majority BPD patients in Malaysia. Methods Twenty patients were recruited from a public hospital and attended DBT skills groups in an outpatient clinic. Participants completed measures assessing psychological symptoms, self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, emotion regulation difficulties, self-compassion, and well-being pre- and post-intervention. Results There were significant reductions in depressive symptoms, stress, and emotion regulation difficulties, as well as increases in self-compassion and well-being from pre- to post-intervention. A trend was found for decreases in frequency and types of non-suicidal self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, and anxiety symptoms. Qualitative content analyses of participants’ feedback indicated that the vast majority of participants perceived a positive impact from the skills group, with mindfulness and distress tolerance being rated frequently as skills that were beneficial. Conclusion These preliminary findings suggest that DBT skills training is feasible and acceptable in a Muslim-majority, low resource clinical setting, and holds promise in improving clinical outcomes among BPD patients in Malaysia.

Depression is ranked as the second-leading cause for years lived with disability worldwide. Objective monitoring with a standardized scale for depressive symptoms can improve treatment outcomes. This study evaluates the construct and concurrent validity of the Malay Self-Report Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR16) among Malaysian clinical and community samples. This cross-sectional study was based on 277 participants, i.e., patients with current major depressive episode (MDE), n = 104, and participants without current MDE, n = 173. Participants answered the Malay QIDS-SR16 and were administered the validated Malay Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) for DSM-IV-TR. Factor analysis was used to determine construct validity, alpha statistic for internal consistency, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for concurrent validity with MINI to determine the optimal threshold to identify MDE. Data analysis provided evidence for the unidimensionality of the Malay QIDS-SR16 with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.88). Based on ROC analysis, the questionnaire demonstrated good validity with a robust area under the curve of 0.916 (p < 0.000, 95% CI 0.884–0.948). A cut-off score of nine provided the best balance between sensitivity (88.5%) and specificity (83.2%). The Malay QIDS-SR16 is a reliable and valid instrument for identifying MDE in unipolar or bipolar depression.