Citation

Lynch TR, Johnson CS, Mendelson T, Robins CJ, Ranga K, Krishnan R, Blazer DG. J. Affect. Disord. 1999; 56(1): 9-15.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. lynch011@mc.duke.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10626775

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Suicidal ideation has been shown to be strongly associated with suicide completion and elders take their own lives more than any other age group. METHODS: The present study examined clinical and phenomenological correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly sample (n = 167) derived from subjects enrolled in the Duke Clinical Research Center for the Study of Depression in Late Life. RESULTS: Bivariate results indicated that clinical variables associated with psychomotor retardation, a history of dysthymia, a previous psychiatric in-patient stay, and being a 'younger' elder were related to greater suicidal ideation. Multivariate analyses indicated that feeling guilty, sinful, or worthless was associated with over six times greater odds of having suicidal thoughts. LIMITATIONS: Findings are based on correlational analyses, and thus, the direction of causality cannot be inferred. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence for clinicians of some of the 'red flags' associated with the presence of suicidal ideation among depressed older adults.

Language: en