Suicide attempts and personality disorder.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the present study was to compare clinical characteristics of suicide attempters with or without personality disorders.


METHODS
A systematic sample (n = 114) of patients from consecutive cases of attempted suicide referred to general hospitals in Helsinki was interviewed and diagnosed according to DSM-III-R. Forty-six subjects with DSM-III-R personality disorders were identified and divided into clusters A (n = 4), B (n = 34) and C (n = 8). These subjects were compared with 65 suicide attempters without personality disorders in terms of clinical characteristics and treatment received.


RESULTS
Suicide attempters with personality disorders more often had a history of previous suicide attempts and lifetime psychiatric treatment than comparison subjects. However, suicide attempts did not differ in terms of suicide intent, hopelessness, lethality or impulsiveness between subjects with or without personality disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
Although suicidal behaviour is a more persistent feature among those with personality disorders, their clinical characteristics at the time of a suicide attempt may not differ from those without personality disorders.
Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
K H
KH
Suominen
E T
ET
Isometsä
M M
MM
Henriksson
A I
AI
Ostamo
J K
JK
Lönnqvist
D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012008:Recurrence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*