Predisposition for self-destruction? Affective temperaments as a suicide risk factor in patients with mood disorders

Because suicide is overall a relatively rare event, its prediction in individual cases remains very difficult. Suicidal behavior (both fatal and nonfatal) is, however, quite frequent among psychiatric patients who have  contacted different levels of the health-care system some weeks or months before their attempt (Luoma, Martin, & Pearson, 2002). Untreated unipolar or bipolar major depressive episode is the main clinical  substrate of suicide, accounting for 56–87% of the cases. What is most important in this respect is that suicidal behavior in mood disorder patients is a phenomenon dependent on the state and severity of the underlying disease, and that suicidality decreases/vanishes after clinical recovery (Rihmer, 2007). But because the majority of depressed patients never complete suicide and bout half of them never attempt it,  special clinical, psychological, and psychosocial risk factors also play a significant role (Rihmer, 2007). A look at these factors may help us to identify patients who are at an especially high risk for suicide.