ETUDE RECHERCHE Idées suicidaires et labilité de l'affect chez les personnes ayant fait une ou plusieurs tentatives de suicide et souffrant de troubles dépressifs majeurs
Research paper
Suicidal
ideation and affect lability in single and multiple suicidal attempters
with Major Depressive Disorder : An exploratory network analysis D.Núñez ab J.L. Ulloa a S. Guillaume c E. Olié c A. Alacreu-Crespo c P. Courtet c
a Faculty of Psychology, Universidad de Talca, Chile.
b Millennium Nucleus to Improve the Mental Health of Adolescents and Youths, Imhay c Département d'Urgences & Post Urgence Psychiatrique, CHU Montpellier, University of Montpellier, France
Received 31 January 2020, Revised 28 March 2020, Accepted 1 April 2020, Available online 7 May 2020.
Highlights
• Affect
lability and anxiety as trait were the most central psychopathological
aspects in suicidal attempters with a primary diagnosis of Major
Depressive Disorder.•
Suicidal ideation was specifically connected with anxiety as trait and hopelessness.
• There
were some differences between the symptomatic profiles of repeaters and
non-repeaters and also between high and low suicidal ideation. • Emotional regulation difficulties might be suitable targets for early detecting and treating suicidal patients.
Abstract
Introduction:
A better understanding of the specific contribution of risk factors to
suicidal behavior could arise from analyzing suicidal ideation (SI) in
clinical samples, and comparing single versus multiple suicide
attempters through contemporary methods allowing complex and dynamical
analyses of multiple and simultaneously interacting suicide risk
factors.
Method: We explored associations among
suicidal ideation (SI), affect lability and other suicide risk factors
in 323 suicidal attempters diagnosed with major depressive disorder
(MDD). We analyzed the network structure and centrality of the total
sample, and compared single versus multiple attempters and subjects with
low and high suicidal ideation.
Results: SI was
connected with anxiety (trait) and hopelessness. Central nodes for
global and specific groups were affect lability (from anxiety to
depression), anxiety as a trait, and harm avoidance. We observed some
specific differences between clinical profiles of repeaters and
non-repeaters and significant network density between high and low SI.
Limitations:
Because our cross-sectional design, we cannot establish casual
relationships among variables. We only examined associations at group
level but not at single subject level.
Conclusions:
Affect lability (mainly the shifts from anxiety to depression) and trait
anxiety were central in each estimated network. These symptoms might be
suitable targets for early detecting and treating suicidal patients.
