TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2011//
TI  - Higher hopelessness and suicide risk predict lower self-deception among psychiatric patients and non-clinical individuals
JO  - Rivista di psichiatria
A1  - Pompili, Maurizio
A1  - Iliceto, Paolo
A1  - Luciano, Debora
A1  - Innamorati, Marco
A1  - Serafini, Gianluca
A1  - Del Casale, Antonio
A1  - Tatarelli, Roberto
A1  - Girardi, Paolo
A1  - Lester, David
SP  - 24
EP  - 30
VL  - 46
IS  - 1
N2  - The present study was designed to explore psychopathological correlates of self-deception in clinical and nonclinical individuals to ascertain whether self-deception was associated with higher hopelessness, a proxy of suicide risk. The patients were 58 consecutive psychiatric patients (30 men, 28 women) admitted to the Sant'Andrea Hospital's psychiatric ward in Rome. Controls were composed of a sample recruited from the general population (62 men and 80 women). All the participants completed the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding-6 Form 40A (BIDR). More than 55% of the patients had BHS scores of 9 or higher indicating severe hopelessness, while only 32% of the control subjects reported scores of 9 or higher on the BHS (p < .01). Subjects with BHS scores of 9 or higher (compared to subjects with lower scores) had lower scores on the self-deceptive enhancement dimension of the BIDR, and were also more likely to be unemployed or retired. Self-deception may be a coping response to stressful live events. Disruption of such coping mechanism may indeed increase suicide risk as individuals do not want to face self-awareness and get close to a highly negative self.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0035-6484
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -