Citation

Freitag S, Au JS, Liu DY, Mekawi Y, Lamis DA. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/sltb.13013

PMID

37937748

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Depressive and mixed symptoms in bipolar disorder (BD) have been linked to higher suicide risk. Based on Klonsky and May's three-step theory and Joiner's Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide, we hypothesized that patients diagnosed with BD who reported severe levels of depressive symptoms and mixed depressive and manic symptoms would also report higher levels of suicidal desire and acquired capability of suicide, as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

METHODS: The sample included 177 outpatients diagnosed with BD. Latent class analysis was conducted to replicate the identified groups of a previously conducted study using a smaller but overlapping dataset. Between-class and pairwise analyses with measures of suicidal desire and acquired capability were conducted.

RESULTS: As expected, the classes characterized by severe depressive symptoms and mixed symptoms reported higher levels of suicidal desire. However, the results regarding acquired capability were less consistent.

CONCLUSION: Given the overall elevated suicide risk of BD and the consistent relationship between depressive symptoms and other strong correlates of suicide, clinicians who work with patients diagnosed with BD should closely monitor changes in their depressive symptoms.

Language: en

Keywords

latent class analysis; acquired capability; bipolar disorder; suicidal desire; suicidal thoughts and behaviors