Psychiatric Annals

<p>The successful resolution of developmental tasks during childhood has long been recognized as crucial to adult mental health. Specifically, theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget posited that the negotiation of stages of human development facilitates psychosocial and cognitive adaptation and is vital to the emergence of creativity throughout life. Conversely, much recent research attests to the deleterious consequences of adverse childhood events on functioning throughout the lifespan.This review examines the association between adverse childhood events (which include emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; neglect; childhood household dysfunction; and other forms of childhood trauma) and the emergence of psychiatric symptomatology across the lifespan.</p><h4>ABOUT THE AUTHORS</h4><p>Daniel P. Chapman, PhD, MSc; Shanta R. Dube, PhD, MPH; and Robert F. Anda, MD, MS, are with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adult and Community Health, Emerging Investigation and Analytic Methods Branch, Atlanta, GA.</p><p>Address correspondence to: Daniel P. Chapman, PhD, MSc, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adult and Community Health, Emerging Investigation and Analytic Methods Branch, 4770 Buford Hwy N.E., Mailstop K-67, Atlanta, GA 30341; fax 770-488-5965; or email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</p><p>The authors disclosed no relevant financial relationships.</p><p>The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>

Current psychological diagnostic classification systems do not fully capture the scope of suicidality, leading to recent advocacy for the inclusion of a suicide-specific diagnosable condition. We contend that a suicide-specific diagnosable condition should parsimoniously reflect acuity and characterize not only if, but also when, a person will engage in suicidal behavior. Two potential solutions to this diagnostic void have been proposed: (1) acute suicidal affective disturbance (ASAD) and (2) suicide crisis syndrome (SCS). This article provides an overview of the phenomenology and existing empirical evidence for ASAD and SCS, as well as a comparison between the two conditions. It also outlines a number of future research directions, including the need to examine both conditions prospectively in heterogeneous samples of people across the lifespan, as well as the necessity of comparing the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of these two syndromes directly within single studies. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2017;47(8):416–420.]