Year: 2001 Source: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, v.35, no.3, (June 2001), p.322-328 SIEC No: 20020213

This paper summarizes the authors’ research that disproved the accepted lifetime suicide risk in major depression. It then explores the pivotal issue of gender in understanding suicide risk in depression & raises questions as to whether this is adequately reflected in the current diagnostic construct of this condition. Among sufferers of major depression, men & those who have been hospitalized have a much greater risk of suicide. These findings are sensitive to diagnostic inclusivity which raises the question as to whether women with a depressive illness are more likely to be correctly identified than male sufferers? An argument is made for a gender-based nosological revision of the diagnostic criteria. (22 refs.)