New research has found subtle changes in brain structure in young people who have suicidal behavior

Suicide is the second leading cause

A new study by a global team of researchers, including Dr.

"Together with my colleagues at Stevens INI, an international team of neuroscientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists worked together to study the ENIGMA Working Group on Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors, part of a grant from the National Institute for Mental Health, in order to bring together the amount of data needed for this type of

"Thanks to the large dataset we have, we were able to analyse in multiple sub-samples," elaborated Dr Laura van Velzen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne and lead author of the

"The differences in brain structure that we found were very subtle, which means that the brains of most people with a history of suicidal behavior are not much different from those of people without a history of suicidal behavior, which is reassuring," Van Velzen added

With these results, the research team calls attention to the urgent need

"This study provides evidence to support a promising future where we will find new and improved ways to reduce the risk of

In addition to her research work at the ENIGMA Alliance at Stevens INI, Jahanshad has taken a social approach to studying her mental illness

The INI director said: "This study demonstrates the power of researchers like Dr Jahanshad and her colleagues who seek to join forces with experts across the globe to better understand and accumulate vast amounts of data

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Structural brain alterations associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young people: results from 21 international studies from the ENIGMA Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours consortium