title: Cognitive traits in inpatient adolescents with and without prior suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Establishing a psychiatric diagnosis and assessing suicidal tendencies is often a challenging task particularly in the early stages of an illness. Cognitive impairments characterize different psychiatric entities, but there is no known specific cognitive deficit profile that could help the clinician in achieving the diagnostic task. This study's aim was to establish a cognitive profile and test its ability to differentiate psychiatric inpatient subgroups, in terms of suicidal risk and diagnosis. The sample constituted of 76 consecutive admissions to the psychiatric adolescent day-care unit, who were admitted for any diagnosis. Assessment included full psychiatric interview and cognitive evaluation, using the COGNISTAT test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 76 participants, 58% reported having suicidal ideation and 29% reported a prior attempted suicide. Subjects who had a prior suicide attempt had better orientation and attention scores in the COGNISTAT. Other cognitive domains did not differentiate between groups or diagnoses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These preliminary results suggest a significant association between specific cognitive characteristics and suicidal behavior in adolescents. Those cognitive characteristics might prove clinically useful in the assessment of suicide risk. Further study is needed to establish this association and generalize the conclusion to different populations.
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Shlomit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsafrir
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chubarov
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shoval
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Mali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.affiliation: Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: Eitan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nahshoni
authors.affiliation: Pain Rehabilitation Unit, Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital, Raanana, Israel.
authors.forename: Motti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ratmansky
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Research Unit, Geha Mental Health Center and Felsenstein Medical Research Center, Petah Tikva, Israel.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.affiliation: Child and Adolescent Division, Geha Mental Health Center, Petah Tikva, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel; Molecular Imaging and Psychopathology Division, Psychaitry DepartmentNY, USA. Electronic address: zalsman@post.tau.ac.il.
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zalsman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012306:Risk; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult