An Empirical Study of Seriously Disturbed Suicidal Patients

Aspects of unconscious processes in a group of seriously disturbed psychiatric patients are examined in an effort to predict near-lethal suicide attempts & explore psychoanalytic formulations of suicide. The Rorschach Inkblot Test was chosen for its potential to shed light on specific unconscious processes. On the basis of a priori hypotheses, the authors developed a suicide index comprising 4 psychoanalytic Rorschach signs that predicted, with considerable accuracy, which patients would later make near-lethal suicide attempts. The best predictors were unconscious processes indicative of penetrating affective overstimulation, disturbance in the capacity to maintain adequate ego boundaries, & depressive affective states characterized by a morbid preoccupation with death & inner decay. (44 refs.)