Courtney L Bagge, PhD

Courtney Bagge, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical Center, and an investigator with the VA Center for Clinical Management Research (CCMR) at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Dr. Bagge’s program of research aims to increase understanding of the etiology, course, and treatment of suicidal behaviors across the lifespan. Much of her current work focuses on identifying near-term risk factors (warning signs) for suicidal behavior, which indicate when an individual is at heightened suicide risk in the near term (i.e., within minutes, hours, or days). This involves warning signs across a variety of categories, including heightened suicidality (e.g., overt suicide-related communications), and proximal increases in other behaviors (e.g., alcohol or drug use), affect (e.g., hostility), and cognitions (e.g., burdensomeness). She uses a within-subject design to aid in answering a critical question: Why today? Why did a specific individual attempt suicide today compared to a previous day, close in proximity, when he/she did not attempt suicide?”, aiding in the determination of imminent risk.
Notably, she has a particular interest in determining the role of acute substance use on suicidal behavior including event-based sole- and simultaneous use, motives for use, and disaggregating acute from chronic substance effects. She has developed and refined fine-grained methodological approaches for examining the hours preceding a suicide attempt and hopes to extend this to other low base-rate adverse outcomes. Dr. Bagge’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the Department of Defense/Military Suicide Research Consortium. In addition, she frequently serves as an expert on national (e.g., the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention; NIAAA; NIMH) and international (the World Health Organization) work groups to further understanding of imminent risk for suicidal behaviors. Dr. Bagge was the 2017 recipient of the American Association for Suicidology Edwin S. Shneidman Award for outstanding contributions to research in the field of suicidology.

Areas of Interest

- Near-term risk for suicidal behaviors
- Acute sole and simultaneous use of substances in relation to suicidal behavior and other adverse outcomes (e.g., unintentional overdose)
- Event-based methodologies

Clinical Interests

- Mood disorders
- Suicide prevention