Not the highest level of evidence, but nonetheless this study showed the association between prescription sedative use in an older cohort and suicide risk. And, an element of the problem, as you might imagine, was the use of these very drugs to commit suicide.
In my clinical experience, some of these cases involved individuals who experienced the problem we call “losing sleep over losing sleep,” described in our research and in my book, Life Saving Sleep. This obsession with sleep, leads to a severe sleep anxiety, where the individual imagines he or she will never regain the capacity to sleep. Many end up in emergency rooms in hospitals seeking “knockout drugs.” Others, attempt or complete suicide.
In training mental health professionals on the treatment of insomnia, I always point out the need to assess for the “losing sleep over losing sleep” mindset as a highly relevant suicide risk.