Suicide attempt, suicidal ideation and hopelessness levels in major depressive patients with and without alexithymia

Abstract

Suicide attempt, suicidal ideation and hopelessness levels in major depressive patients with and without alexithymia Objective: It is known that hopelessness and alexithymia levels are increased in patients with depressive disorder. In the literature, reports are suggesting that high levels of hopelessness in patients with depressive disorder increase suicide attempts and ideations. Here we aimed to investigate whether there are any differences in terms of suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and hopelessness levels in major depressive disorder patients with and without alexithymia. Method: In this study, 99 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder according to structured interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I/CV) and 50 healthy subjects were included. Sociodemographic questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) were administered to patients and controls. Additionally, Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) was administered to patients with suicide attempt. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of sociodemographic data (except for the marital status) between major depressive patients with or without alexithymia and healthy controls. According to a cut off point of 61 for TAS-20, 34.3% (n=34) of the patient group was alexithymic and 65.7% (n=65) was non-alexithymic. Rate of suicide attempt was higher in the alexithymic major depressive patients (67.6%) than the non-alexithymic major depressive patients (29.2%). Mean scores of SSI and BHS were higher in alexithymic patients than non-alexithymic patients. There was a positive correlation between TAS-1 (difficulty identifying feelings), TAS-2 (difficulty expressing feelings) and BHS, SSI scores. Conclusion: In our study, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt and hopelessness levels were higher in major depression patients with alexithymia. Higher incidence of suicide attempts in major depressive patients with higher alexithymia levels and higher suicidal ideation and hopelessness levels in this group of patients suggest the possibility of alexithymia being a predictive factor for suicide attempt. Key words: Alexithymia, depression, hopelessness, suicide ÖZET Aleksitimik olan ve olmayan major depresif bozukluk hastalarında intihar girişimi, intihar düşüncesi ve umutsuzluk düzeyleri Amaç: Depresif bozukluğu olan hastaların umutsuzluk ve aleksitimi düzeylerinin daha yüksek olduğu bilinmektedir. Literatürde yüksek umutsuzluk düzeylerinin depresif bozukluğu olan hastalarda intihar girişimi ve düşüncesini artırdığına dair yayınlar bulunmaktadır. Biz bu çalışmamızda; hasta grubu, sağlıklı kontrol grubu ile sosyodemografik özellikler acısından eşleştirdikten sonra, aleksitimik olan ve olmayan major depresif bozukluk tanılı hasta grupları arasında intihar girişimi, intihar düşüncesi, umutsuzluk düzeyi ve alekstimi düzeyi bakımından fark olup olmadığını araştırmayı amaçladık.Yöntem: Bu çalışmaya DSM-IV için yapılandırılmış görüşme formu ile (SCID-I/CV)...

Validation of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS) With Bulgarian Substance Dependent Individuals

“…Alexithymia is proposed to be a coping strategy for dealing with negative emotions (Bilotta et al, 2016 ), reflecting deficits in cognitive processing (Fullam and Dolan, 2006 ) or in affect regulation (Lander et al, 2013 ) and empathy (Grynberg et al, 2010 ). Consistent with our findings, alexithymia has previously been associated with impulsivity (Shishido et al, 2013 ), anxiety sensitivity (Devine et al, 1999 ; Zahradnik et al, 2009 ), depression (Bamonti et al, 2010 ), and hopelessness (Izci et al, 2015 ). Of particular relevance to our findings is the recently proposed heuristic framework for Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment (Kwako et al, 2016 ), which considers alexithymia a key component of negative emotional states during the withdrawal/abstinence stage of addiction, characterizing the majority of our substance dependent participants, who were in protracted abstinence at the time of testing.…”

Alexithymia and Its Associations With Depression, Suicidality, and Aggression: An Overview of the Literature

“…Studies have largely focussed on either the relationship between alexithymia and suicide ideation or on the relationship between alexithymia and suicide behavior, with some studies examining both. This evidence supports the notion that alexithymia is more strongly related to suicide ideation than suicide behavior, with correlation coefficients reported to range from 0.28 to 0.75 (65, 67–71) for ideation. Despite this, a small number of studies have also found a relationship between alexithymia and suicide behavior, namely with self-harm or suicide deaths, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.09 to 0.22 (72–74).…”

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between alexithymia and suicide ideation and behaviour

“…(2001)IsraelCase-control66Panic disorder outpatients, controls44.3 (11.7)26 (40%)TAS-26SRSIancu et al. (1999)IsraelCase-control60Major depression patients, controls35 (15.7)30 (50%)TAS-26Clinical records – hospitalised for suicide attemptIzci et al. (2015)TurkeyCase-control149Depression patients, controls41.4 (12.6)59 (59%)TAS-20SfSIHistory taking - lifetime attemptKampfer et al.…”

“…(2017)TAS-20 r = 0.42⁎⁎⁎pr=0.12† r = 0.53⁎⁎⁎pr=0.29⁎⁎⁎ r = 0.58⁎⁎⁎pr=0.42⁎⁎⁎Depression, alcohol dependence severityHuang et al. (2016)TAS-20 d = 1.03*Standardised B = 0.03⁎⁎ d = 1.64*– d = 0.79*–Demographic variables, adverse life events, personality traits, suicidality factorsIzci et al. (2015)TAS-20 r = 0.64⁎⁎⁎– r = 0.41⁎⁎⁎– r = 0.09†––Loas et al.…”