Matthew J. Hoptman, PhD

My research is focused on understanding the behavioral and neurocircuitry basis of suicidal ideation and behavior (SIB) in schizophrenia and depression. We are hoping this understanding will lead to novel treatments that can be used to reduce SIB in these disorders.

We are particularly interested in building on our initial pilot study findings that emotionally related impulsivity was highly elevated in people with schizophrenia who had high levels of SIB compared to those with lower levels of SIB. Moreover, activation during an emotion regulation fMRI task in brain regions normally associated with emotion regulation was higher in those with low SIB compared to those with high SIB. Finally, we found that this activation may be correlated with emotion related impulsivity in these brain regions.

We are currently planning to expand this work into a larger sample and to compare our results in schizophrenia with those in another population at high risk of depression -- unipolar major depression. This will give us a better idea of whether our findings are specific to schizophrenia or whether they hold across multiple diagnoses.

Funded by R01MH64783, R21MH084031, and R01MH136161