Social support in depressed patients who attempted suicide.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the level of perceived social support in depressed patients who attempted suicide and to determine whether perceived social support is associated with suicidal attempt in depressed patients.


METHODS
The sample consisted of 90 patients who presented with suicidal attempt and had clinical depression and 90 depressed patients who had never attempted suicide. The subjects were clinically assessed for depression, availability of social support and their satisfaction, number of friends and consultants and family history. Subjects were recruited at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital from July 2000 to June 2002.


RESULTS
The depressed patients who attempted suicide had lower mean scores in all areas of perceived social support and reported having fewer friends and consultants than those without suicidal attempt. They also had a higher rate of financial problems, substance abuse and family history of alcohol or substance use disorder. The scores for severity of depression and level of perceived social support were negatively correlated with statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
Depressed patients who attempted suicide were more likely to report fewer of friends and a lower level of social support. Assessment of patient's support network as well as their perception of available social support should be included in the evaluation of depressed patients particularly in those with substance use disorder and intervention to prevent suicide should focus more on increasing their capacity to obtain social resources and modulating their perception.
Suppapitiporn
Siriluck
S
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Thavichachart
Nuntika
N
Suppapitiporn
Suchat
S
D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology