Citation

Tarrier N, Gooding PA, Gregg L, Johnson J, Drake R. Behav. Res. Ther. 2007; 45(9): 2090-2097.

Affiliation

School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. nicholas.tarrier@machester.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.brat.2007.03.007

PMID

17466940

Abstract

Suicide risk is thought to increase with a greater potential for activation of suicide-related schemas. Suicide schemas are less likely to be activated with reductions of emotional range associated with certain negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The study tested whether suicide risk would increase in patients with recent onset schizophrenia with increased potential for suicide schema activation as indicated by lower levels of specific negative symptoms that reflected emotional reactivity, namely emotional withdrawal and blunted affect. A logistic regression analysis of baseline data of 278 recent onset schizophrenic patients with a measure of suicide behaviour as the dependent variable and negative symptoms, delusions, hallucinations, depression, gender, episode, ethnicity, education, age, duration of untreated psychosis and substance use as independent variables was carried out. Emotional withdrawal, but not blunted affect was significant and negatively associated, and depression positively associated with suicide behaviour. There was evidence to indicate that restricted emotions are associated with reduced suicide risk as predicted.

Language: en