Collaborators Key papers Teaching Google Scholar page
Alexandre Dombrovski, MD
Assistant Professor
of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh
dombrovskia at upmc.edu
+1-412-246-6143
Work on late-life suicide
Our lab uses behavioral experiments and neuroimaging to understand
decision processes leading to suicidal behavior. We work with older adults who
have attempted suicide. Suicide, especially in old age, is often viewed as a
strategic, rational decision. In contrast, we argue that the suicidal crisis
often escalates unexpectedly. Catastrophic choices follow a failure to consider
present experiences in the context of prior knowledge and values.
Kati Szanto,
Greg Siegle, Howard Aizenstein,
Henry Chase, Michael Hallquist, Meryl Butters, and Charles F. Reynolds, 3rd
Luke Clark
(Univ. of Cambridge)
Post-doctoral fellow
Polina Vanyukov
Suicide decision lab
staff
Natalie Truty, Jan Kalkus, Modhurima Moitra, Mandy Collier
Learning: finding the best choices by
trial and error
Dombrovski, A.Y., Clark, L., Siegle, G.J., Butters, M., Ichikawa, N., Sahakian, B.,
Szanto, K., Reward/Punishment Reversal Learning in Older Suicide Attempters. Am
J Psychiatry. 2010: appi.ajp.2009.09030407. Free full text
Dombrovski AY*, Szanto K., Clark L, Reynolds 3rd CF, Siegle, GJ. Reward signals,
impulsivity, and attempted suicide in late-life depression. JAMA Psychiatry,
2013; 70(10):1020-103. Free full text
Author material
Value-based decisions: one-shot choices
Clark L, Dombrovski AY, Siegle GJ, Butters MA, Shollenberger C, Sahakian BJ,
Szanto K. in press. Impairment in risk-sensitive
decision-making in older suicide attempters. Psychology
and Aging. Free full text
Dombrovski AY, Szanto K, Siegle GJ, Wallace ML, Forman SD, Sahakian B, Reynolds CF,
Clark L. (2011) Lethal Forethought: Delayed Reward Discounting Differentiates
High- and Low-Lethality Suicide Attempts in Old Age. Biological
Psychiatry. Free full text
Dombrovski AY, Siegle GJ, Szanto K, Clark L, Reynolds CF, Aizenstein H. The temptation of suicide: striatal gray matter, discounting of delayed rewards, and suicide attempts in late-life depression. Psychol Med. 2011 Oct 17:1-13. PubMed Free full text Full Text
Cognitive control: representing the goals and structure of the task
Dombrovski AY, Butters MA, Reynolds CF, Houck PR, Clark L, Mazumdar
S, Szanto K. Cognitive performance in suicidal depressed elderly: preliminary
report. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 16(2): 109-115. Free full text
Gujral S, Dombrovski AY*, Butters M, Clark L, Reynolds 3rd CF, Szanto K. Impaired Executive Function in Contemplated and Attempted Suicide in Late Life. American Journal of Geriatric Psych, in press. PubMed
Social decisions
Szanto K, Clark L, Hallquist M, Vanyukov P, Crockett M, Dombrovski AY. The cost of social punishment and
high-lethality suicide attempts in the second half of life. Psychology and
Aging, in press
Late-life suicide, pharmacotherapy of late-life depression, and
psychiatric phenomenology.