Mental Health and its Link to Suicide

Having a mental illness is strongly linked to suicide.  In one study using a meta-analysis approach (a study that combines the data of numerous studies) 87.3% of suicide completers had a mental illness whilst 14.0% had no diagnosis.  Affective disorders, like depression, were responsible for 43.2% of cases and substance mis-use in 25.7%.  Having more than one psychiatric disorder increases the suicide risk further.

Source:
Psychiatric Diagnoses in 3275 Suicides: a meta-analysis, Arsenault-Lapierre, G., Kim, C., and Turecki, G. BMC Psychiatry 2004, 4:37