Alexandr Kasal

National Institute of Mental Health | NUDZ · Department of Public Mental Health

Objective: The impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on suicidal thoughts and behavior has been widely hypothesized but remains largely unexplored at the population-level. We aimed to assess changes in suicide risk (SR) in people with and without mental disorders, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Czechia. Methods:...

Background Predicted increases in suicide were not generally observed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the picture may be changing and patterns might vary across demographic groups. We aimed to provide a timely, granular picture of the pandemic's impact on suicides globally. Methods We identified suicide data from official pu...

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. The Section on Suicidology and Suicide Prevention of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) wants to raise awareness about the potential increase in mental health disorders and suicides as a result of the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,...

Situational Analysis of Suicide Prevention in the Czech Republic is a comprehensive document mapping epidemiology of self-harm and suicide in recent years in the Czech Republic. As it is intended to be a cornerstone for the upcoming National Action Plan for Suicide Prevention, the document includes a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and t...

The original version of the article, unfortunately, missing the funding information. Funding note is given below.

This meta-review summarizes existing evidence from systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the effectiveness of school-based psychological interventions aimed at improving student mental health and well-being, and preventing mental illness. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses were identified via the electronic databases PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge,...

Aims of this study are the following: a) to conduct a descriptive analysis of the railway suicidality in Czechia b) to examine geographical differences in suicide rate across the municipalities of Czechia c) to detect suicide hot spots on the railway network of Czechia

Introduction: Suicide rate in the Czechia (CZ) is persistently above EU and global average. Although some effective interventions exist, they are only sporadically implemented in CZ. Also, umbrella policy such as national strategy for suicide prevention is missing. The aim of this study was to formulate basic document summarising effective suicide...

Introduction: Mental health stigma occurs not only in general population, but also in population of healthcare professionals. Their stigmatizing attitudes then negatively interfere with their care. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of mental health stigma among psychiatric nurses and explore whether the level of stigma is associate...