title: Risk-taking propensity, depression and parasuicide.
abstract: One hundred patients admitted consecutively to an inpatient psychiatric unit were given questionnaires to measure risk-taking propensity and depression. The purpose was to study the relationship between risk-taking, depression, and recent suicide attempts. It was found that depressed patients showed a bimodal clustering towards the extremes of risk-taking. There was a history of suicide attempts only when a certain threshold of risk-taking was exceeded. These findings are discussed with relation to defensive styles of psychological adaptation and to arousal thresholds.
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior; D012737:Sex Factors; D013406:Suicide, Attempted