Among the newest modifiable risk factors to join the list are insomnia and nightmares, reports Psychiatric Times.

The clever skeptic would guess that the association between sleep disturbance and suicide is spurious and is better explained by the well-known association of sleeping problems with depression; therefore, it must actually be the depression that is driving the association with suicide. And yet, when the presence and intensity of depression are controlled for within the statistical analysis, the relationship between sleep problems and suicide still stands. The odds ratio between insomnia and suicidal ideation is approximately 2.0. Moreover, the intensity of suicidal ideation co-varies with the intensity of insomnia during the course of clinical treatment for depression.3