Suicide Schema in Schizophrenia: the Effect of Emotional Reactivity, Negative Symptoms and Schema Elaboration

This study tested whether sucide risk would increase in patients with recent onset schizophrenia with increased potential for suicide schema acitivation as indicated by lower levels of specific negative symptoms that reflected emotional reactivity, namely emotional withdrawal & blunted affect. A logistic regression analysis of baseline data of 278 patients with recent onset schizophrenia with a measure of suicide behaviour as the dependent variable & negative symptoms & other characteristics as independent variables was carried out. Emotional withdrawal, but not blunted affect was significant & negatively associated, & depression positively associated with suicide behaviour. (28 refs.)