Citation

Jiménez Genchi A, Sentíes Castella H, Ortega Soto HA. Salud Ment. (Mex) 1997; 20(1): 36-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Instituto Mexicano de Psiquiatria)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide attempt is one of the best indicators of suicide risk; furthermore, it increases in psychiatric patients. Neurochemical findings have suggested the presence of an underlying serotonergic dysfunction in depression, suicidal behavior, impulsivity and agressivity. Moreover, it has been documented that among subjects with suicide attempt there is a subgroup with impulsive suicide attempts. This study assessed the association among suicide act's impulsivity, impulsivity as trait and depressive mood in subjects admitted to a psychiatric hospital because of a suicide intent. Twenty seven suicide attempters and 17 psychiatric patients, sex and age matched, were studied during October 1994-January 1995. Demographic data and diagnoses were obtained; Beck's Suicide Intent Scale (BSIS), Impulsivity Scale (IS) and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to assess variables. Suicide attempts were considered impulsive or non impulsive according to items 6 and 15 of BSIS. There were no significant differences with respect to age, sex, marital status, education and diagnoses, unlike depression and impulsivity as trait, where cases presented higher scores on BDI and IS. There were no significant differences on BDI in relation to impulsive and non impulsive subgroup, in contrast to score on IS which showed significant tendency. These results indicate that subjects with suicide attempt admitted to this hospital present world recognized risk characteristics, but they also show higher indexes of impulsivity as trait, which associates more than depressive mood to suicide attempt when the intent is impulsive by itself.

Language: es

Keywords

depression; impulsivity; psychiatric patients; suicide attempt