A retrospective analysis of all the suicides at the New York State
Psychiatric Institute over a 25-year period was carried out. The authors
retrospectively assigned diagnoses according to Research Diagnostic
Criteria and DSM-III and found that among the patients who committed
suicide there were 14 with unipolar endogenous depression. Of those 14
patients, 10 were considered delusional or probably delusional. In
comparison, a control group of similarly diagnosed depressed patients taken
from the same institution over the same time period included far fewer
delusional depressions. Thus, there was a significant association between
delusions and suicide: A delusionally depressed patient was five times more
likely to commit suicide than a nondelusional one.
Abstract Teaser