The Silent Crisis: Understanding Suicide Risk
For this special Suicide Prevention Month episode of Road to Resilience, host Stephen Calabria speaks with Dr. Igor Galynker, psychiatrist, researcher, and director of Mount Sinai’s Suicide Research and Prevention Laboratory, about one of the most urgent and misunderstood public health challenges of our time.
Drawing on decades of clinical experience and research, Dr. Galynker explains why suicide risk is often far more complex than depression alone and discusses the limitations of traditional approaches to identifying people in crisis.
The conversation also examines the impact of major life stressors, shame, substance use, social media, resilience, and emerging approaches to suicide risk assessment. Most importantly, Dr. Galynker emphasizes that suicide risk is not a sign of weakness, but a treatable condition, and that greater awareness can help save lives.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.
Stephen Calabria: This podcast episode contains discussions and descriptions of suicide. Viewer discretion is advised.
From the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, this is Road to Resilience, a podcast about facing adversity. I'm your host, Stephen Calabria, Mount Sinai's director of podcasting.
September is Suicide Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and remind people that hope and help are available.
On this episode, we're joined by Dr. Igor Galynker, a psychiatrist, researcher, and director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Laboratory at Mount Sinai.
His work has focused on understanding the psychological states that can precede suicidal behavior and on developing new ways to identify people at risk before a crisis turns into tragedy.
In this conversation, we discuss warning signs, common misconceptions, what family and friends can do when they're concerned about someone, and how shifting paradigms are helping clinicians better prevent suicide.
Dr. Igor Galynker, welcome to Road to Resilience, sir.
Igor Galynker: Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
Stephen Calabria: You've spent much of your career focused on suicide prevention. What first drew you to this line of work?
Igor Galynker: In retrospect, I had two reasons for this. One was a conscious reason, and the other was a subconscious reason.
The conscious reason was that in about 2007, then the medical director of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention gave a talk, it was then Beth Israel, about suicide prevention.