title: Depression type and depression severity in relation to risk of violent suicide attempt.
abstract: Low levels of cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and a blunted thyroid-stimulating hormone response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone have been reported in depressed patients--in particular in those who have made violent suicide attempts. There are at least two conceivable explanations for these findings: The biological abnormalities relate to (1) disturbed aggression regulation or to (2) disturbed mood regulation (either type or severity). The second alternative presupposes that violent suicide attempts occur differentially in a particular depression type or differentially in severe depression. This study demonstrated that violent suicide attempts are "depression-specific," i.e., they relate to a particular depressive syndrome, that of vital depression, but not to the severity factor. Therefore, it is impossible to decide whether the biological abnormalities in depressed, violent suicide attempters relate to a particular type of mood disorder or to a distorted regulation of aggression.
mesh_terms: D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D012306:Risk; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence
chemical_list: D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid