Suizidalität in der Onkologie

Despite the increased suicide risk among patients with cancer, the issue of suicidality is still inadequately considered in oncology. The emergence of suicidal ideation can be facilitated by various stress factors occurring at any stage of the disease and its treatment. Various general and disease-specific factors such as an unfavorable prognosis, a history of suicide attempts, or access to means of suicide are associated with an elevated risk of a suicide attempt. In addition to distress monitoring of psychosocial burdens, as recommended in the German S3 guideline on psycho-oncology [28], proactive inquiry into the psychological and psychosocial wellbeing of patients, including feelings of hopelessness, existential weariness, and/or suicidal ideation, should be conducted, especially for patients exhibiting one or multiple risk factors. The initiation of discussions regarding death wishes by the attending physician can have a relieving effect and potentially contribute to preventing suicide. Furthermore, familiarity with structured approaches to managing suicidality provides additional confidence in action.