Investigating the Clinical Profile of Suicide Attempters Who Used a Violent Suicidal Means

Abstract

In our study, we aimed to explore the profile of the high-risk subgroup of suicide attempters that used a violent means compared to suicide attempters that chose a non-violent suicide means. Therefore, we recruited a sample of inpatients with recent suicide attempts in three psychiatric hospitals in Thuringia, Germany. We used a structured clinical interview to assess the psychiatric diagnoses, sociodemographic data, and characteristics of the suicide attempt. Furthermore, we used several validated clinical questionnaires to measure suicidal ideations, suicide intent, depression severity, hopelessness, impulsivity, aggression, anger expression, and childhood trauma. We compared 41 individuals using violent means to 59 using non-violent means with univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. We found significantly (corrected for multiple comparisons) higher levels of impulsivity-related sensation-seeking in violent suicide attempters in univariate and multivariate analyses, and additionally in anger expression directed inward at an uncorrected statistical threshold. Besides that, there were no significant differences between the two groups. We assume that underlying neurocognitive mechanisms, such as impaired decision-making processes and/or differences in risk/loss assessment, could explain the higher levels of questionnaire-based sensation-seeking in subjects who use violent suicide means. Further research is needed, including neuroimaging and biochemical techniques, to gain more insight into the mechanisms underlying the choice of a suicidal means.

Exploring the Loss Aversion Scale’s psychometric properties in Spain

“…Regarding the hypotheses linked to the specific objective 3, only hypothesis 3 was supported, indicating that individuals with high LA are less inclined to seek experiences that elicit new sensations. This finding aligns with recent research 54 , 55 . However, hypothesis 2 was unsupported, as the negative correlation was not statistically significant.…”

“…Secondly, the correlation with sensation-seeking was examined to assess an anticipated negative relationship between these variables, consistent with findings from other recent psychology studies 54 , 55 . This rationale is grounded in the definition of LA itself.…”

Impact of Toxoplasma gondii and Human Microbiome on Suicidal Behavior: A Systematic Review

“…In a recent publication by our group, Lubbert and [28] reported significantly higher levels of a personality trait, i.e., sensation seeking measured by a German version of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale [29], in suicide attempters who used violent suicidal means, such as hanging, compared to suicide attempters using non-violent methods, such as drug overdose. Higher sensation-seeking scores may represent a clinical correlate of riskier DM in violent attempters than in nonviolent attempters, as outlined in a recent meta-analysis [30].…”