Relationships of Depression, Hopelessness, and Dysfunctional Attitudes to Suicide Ideation in Psychiatric Patients

Abstract

Computerized versions of the Beck Depression Inventory, Hopelessness Scale, Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, and Scale for Suicide Ideation were administered to 50 inpatients diagnosed with mixed psychiatric disorders and 25 outpatients diagnosed with affective disorders. The scale scores were positively related to suicide ideation and the magnitudes of the correlations were comparable. Controlling for a prior suicide attempt, a stepwise multiple-regression analysis indicated that the Beck Depression Inventory and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale contributed unique variance to the explanation of the inpatients' Scale for Suicide Ideation scores. Only the Beck Depression Inventory contributed unique variance to the explanation of the outpatients' Scale for Suicide Ideation scores. A stepwise multiple-regression analysis of the 40 Dysfunctional Attitude Scale items on the inpatients' Scale for Suicide Ideation scores showed six dysfunctional attitudes (perfectionism and sensitivity to social criticism) explained about 77% of the variance. Results reaffirmed the importance of depression, in addition to hopelessness, as a syndrome associated with suicide ideation and indicated that dysfunctional attitudes, such as perfectionism, may yield additional information about suicidal risk.