Hopelessness and Eventual Suicide: A 10-Year Prospective Study of Patients Hospitalized With Suicidal Ideation

The authors studied 207 patients hospitalized because of suicidal ideation, but not for recent suicide attempts, at the time of admission. During a followup period of 5-10 years, 14 patients committed suicide. Of all the data collected at the time of hospitalization, only the Hopelessness Scale & the pessimism item of the Beck Depression Inventory predicted the actual suicides. A score of 10 or more on the Hopelessness Scale correctly identified 91% of the eventual suicides.