The UIC Barcelona University Master’s Degree in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychopathology has organised the 7th Forensic Psychopathology Conference, inviting experts from different fields to discuss the challenges in the prevention of suicide. Under the title “Suicide: Multidisciplinary Prevention and Intervention”, specialists have delved into the study of suicide from a clinical and forensic perspective.
The aim of the conference celebrated on 9 May at the Barcelona campus was to provide theoretical and practical tools that allow a better understanding and approach to the problem, promoting interdisciplinary work in detection, prevention and multidisciplinary intervention.
Two round tables provided a space to reflect and update scientific research, where experts in psychiatry, psychology and forensic medicine analysed the risk factors, prevention strategies and intervention protocols in the presence of suicidal behaviour.
Difficulty in establishing a single cause
The experts have all agreed that it is difficult to establish a single motivation for suicide, and establishing a cause and effect relationship is very complex in the cases that end up in a legal process.
Accordingly, Dr Aina Maria Gassó Moser, lecturer of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychopathology of the UIC Barcelona Faculty of Law, explained that “the link between the act of suicide and a specific event that may have caused it is very difficult to establish and is a challenge from a judicial perspective.” “Suicide is a multidimensional phenomenon that is a response to a complex interaction between different variables such as psychosocial factors, loneliness, neurobiological elements, difficult life events or mental disorders” she added.
Dr Gassó believes that “forensic psychology cannot point out a single definite cause between the act of suicide and a specific event that may have motivated it.”
Forensic psychological autopsies
Specialists have highlighted the role forensic autopsies have in alleviating the pain of family members. According to experts, knowing what could have happened can offer consolation to the families of the deceased. Forensic physician Dr Montserrat Vilella of the Institut de Medicina Legal i Ciències Forenses de Catalunya explained that “although originally forensic autopsies had the objective of explaining deaths that were for unknown causes and psychological profiles were not studied, nowadays reconstructive assessments are made through interviews with all those connected to the deceased.
Dr Vilella noted that “the suffering is not only borne by the person who leaves us, but also by the people they leave behind,” and therefore it is important to know what leads to suicidal behaviour in order to design prevention plans. She also stressed that it is fundamental to follow-up on people who have survived a suicide.
The conference was moderated by the director of the Master’s Degree in Legal, Forensic and Criminological Psychopathology Dr Esperanza Gómez-Durán. Carlos García Forero, head of the Epidemiology and Public Health Area and coordinator of the Research and Transfer Area of the Faculty of Medicine at UIC Barcelona, and Dr Enric Gil Tubella, Medical Coordinator of the Prison Health Programme of the Catalan Health Institute also participated.
Dr Diego Palao, director of Mental Health at the Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí and director of the Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine at the UAB, Dr Marc Fradera, head of the Research Support Unit at the Parc Taulí University Hospital, and Dr Enric Armengou, director of Mental Health at the Help and Hope Foundation, also spoke at the conference.
