Suicide and Auto-aggression, Depression, Hopelessness, Self-communication-- Results of a Prospective Study

Abstract

A prospective study (N=503) conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, University Clinic Graz, investigated possible differences in intensity of auto-aggression tendencies, depression, hopelessness and self-communication between patients who committed or attempted suicide (failed suicide) in a 1-year follow-up (G1), patients who committed parasuicide in the period under observation (G2), and a non-suicidal control group (G3). In a final analysis (N=55), patients who committed or attempted suicide (n=16) differed from patients of the same age and sex in the non-suicidal control group (n=26) only in their greater self-aggression at the beginning of hospitalization. Patients who committed parasuicide (n=13) in the follow-up period were more auto-aggressive and more negative in their self-communication both at the beginning and end of hospitalization and were also more depressive and hopeless at the beginning of treatment than the non-suicidal control group (n=26).