Stress in relation to suicidal behavior has largely been considered as the recent stress in the weeks and months before the attempt or completed suicide. Thus, initial research efforts were directed toward examining adverse life events proximal to the suicidal behavior. For example, Paykel et al. (1975) first demonstrated that suicide attempters reported four times as many life events in 6 months before the attempt than controls. Their conclusion that there is strong and immediate relationship between suicide attempts and recent life stress has now been replicated in different countries and age groups as well as in completed suicides (Beatrais et al., 1997; Crane et al., 2007; Heikkinen et al., 2007; Osvath et al., 2004). However, it is noteworthy that the great majority of individuals who experience current stress or adverse life events do not attempt or commit suicide.
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