We thank Dr. McCall for his comments1 and support of our work.2 We wish to clarify that when we referred to previous work having “not elucidated the psychological mechanisms which underpin” the relationship between sleep problems and suicide, we did not intend to suggest that no work had been conducted in this area. Rather, our perspective is that a comprehensive and testable account of mediating psychological processes remains to be fully articulated. We are very familiar with the important work of Dr McCall and colleagues3–6 and agree that longitudinal and interventional studies are the next logical steps.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
This was not an industry supported study. The authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the Medical Research Council and the University of Manchester Presidential Scholar Award for funding the PhD research of the first author.
CITATION
Littlewood DL, Gooding PA, Panagioti M, Kyle SD. Investigating psychological mechanisms in relation to sleep problems and suicide. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(6):931.
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