What the Body and Brain Tell us about Suicide Risk -- Unraveling the Great Mystery from Research to Practice: Interview with Dr. Matt Nock | Episode 32

For the past century, the science of suicide prevention has not revealed much that is highly promising; however, innovations coming from the research lab of Dr. Matt Nock are quite exciting. Join us as we talk about his work with electronic diaries, attentional bias, ketamine, and much more. Findings that are helping us be able to better predict suicide risk and find more effective ways to prevent this tragedy.

About Dr. Matt Nock

Matt Nock headshot.jpeg

Dr. Matt Nock received his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University (2003) and completed his clinical internship at Bellevue Hospital and the New York University Child Study Center (2003). Nock’s research is aimed at advancing the understanding of why people behave in ways that are harmful to themselves, with an emphasis on suicide and other forms of self-harm. He has been published in over 250 scientific papers and book chapters. Nock’s work has been recognized through the receipt of four early career awards from the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the American Association of Suicidology.

In 2011, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to conducting research, Nock has been a consultant/scientific advisor to the National Institutes of Health, the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Initiative, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 Childhood and Adolescent Disorder Work Group.  In 2017, he was named the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard.

Show Notes

Nock Lab, Harvard University


Coppersmith, D.D.L., Kleiman, E.M., Glenn, C.R., Millner, A.J., & Nock, M.K. (in press). The dynamics of social support among suicide attempters: A smartphone-based daily diary study. Behaviour Research and Therapy.

Kessler, R.C., Bernecker, S.L., Bossarte, R.M., Luedtke, A.R., McCarthy, J.F., Nock, M.K., Pigeon, W. R., Petukhova, M.V., Sadikova, E., VanderWeele, T.J., Zuromski, K.L., Zaslavsky, A.M. (2019). The role of big data analytics in predicting suicide. Personalized Psychiatry, 77-98.

Glenn, C.R., Millner, A.J., Esposito, E.C., Porter, A.C., Nock, M.K. (2019). Implicit identification with death predicts suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 48,  263-272.

Nock, M.K., Ramirez, F., Rankin, O. (2018). Advancing our understanding of who, when, and why of suicide risk. JAMA Psychiatry, 76, 11.

Ionescu, D.F., Bentley, K.H., Eikermann, M., Taylor, N., Akeju O., Swee, M.B., Pavone, K.J., Petrie, S.R., Dording, C., Mischoulon, D., Alpert, J.E., Brown. E.N., Baer, L., Nock, M.K., Fava, M., Cusin, C. (2018). Repeat-dose ketamine augmentation for treatment-resistant depression with chronic suicidal ideation: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. Journal of Affective Disorders, 243, 516-524.

Torous, J., Larsen, M.E., Depp, C., Cosco, T.D., Barnett, I., Nock, M.K., & Firth, J. (2018). Smartphones, sensors, and machine learning to advance real-time prediction and interventions for suicide prevention: a review of current progress and next stepsCurrent Psychiatry Reports,20, 51.


Millner, A.J., Augenstein, T.M., Visser, K.H., Gallagher, K., Vergara, G.A., D'angelo, E.J., & Nock, M.K. (2018). Implicit cognitions as a behavioral marker of suicide attempts in adolescentsArchives of Suicide Research. [Epub ahead of print Mar 14].


Kleiman, E.M., Coppersmith, D.D.L., Millner, A.J., Franz, P.J., Fox, K.R., & Nock, M.K. (2018). Are suicidal thoughts reinforcing? A preliminary real-time monitoring study on the potential affect regulation function of suicidal thinking.  Journal of Affective Disorders, 232, 122-26.