Machine learning is aiding in the fight against mental illness

Living in a modern age, one would think that suicide would be a less common occurrence. Sadly, that isn't the case, and the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that worldwide suicide rates have increased by 60 percent in the last 45 years. Current statistics show that some one million people die from suicide each year, and the WHO anticipates that by 2020 global suicide rate will have increased from one every 40 seconds we see today to one every 20 seconds. That's why a team of researchers from several institutions including Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University developed a machine learning algorithm trained to understand neural representations of suicidal behavior, and it works with a regular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The researchers tested their technique in 17 patients with suicidal ideation and in 17 more that served as control.