The McGill Group for Suicide Studies (MGSS) has been conducting extensive work investigating clinical and behavioral factors increasing risk for suicidal behaviors. To do so, it has been primarily using the following methodologies:

Psychological autopsy studies

Psychological autopsy studies are proxy-based interviews that assess clinical, developmental, psychological and social aspects of a third party. These structured interviews are perfectly suited to investigate people who have already passed away, and as such, they have been used in suicide research for many years.

Examples of studies published by our group using this technique are:

Prospective cohort studies

The MGSS has been conducting a series of studies in epidemiologically representative samples followed up since kindergarten in collaboration with the GRIP. These studies have been aiming to better understand the development of suicidal behavior, as well as its clinical and behavioral correlates.

Examples of these studies include:

Family studies

Family studies use the family unit to investigate factors cosegregating with suicidal behavior. They can be used to address different questions, such as recurrence rates in relatives, estimates of patterns of transmission, phenotypic characterizations, etc.

Examples of this type of approach are:

Clinical population studies

The Depressive Disorders Program is the clinical arm of the MGSS. Through the DDP, we have been conducting a series of studies focusing on clinical populations, particularly on patients with severe major depressive disorder. These studies are broad in scope, having different types of goals and using different methodologies.

Examples of these studies are: