scholarly journals Suicide attempts in bulimia nervosa: Personality and psychopathological correlates

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Forcano ◽  
Fernando Fernández-Aranda ◽  
Eva Álvarez-Moya ◽  
Cynthia Bulik ◽  
Roser Granero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
General Psychopathology ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
History Of

AbstractBackgroundLittle evidence exists about suicidal acts in eating disorders and its relation with personality. We explored the prevalence of lifetime suicide attempts (SA) in women with bulimia nervosa (BN), and compared eating disorder symptoms, general psychopathology, impulsivity and personality between individuals who had and had not attempted suicide. We also determined the variables that better correlate with of SA.MethodFive hundred sixty-six BN outpatients (417 BN purging, 47 BN non-purging and 102 subthreshold BN) participated in the study.ResultsLifetime prevalence of suicide attempts was 26.9%. BN subtype was not associated with lifetime SA (p = 0.36). Suicide attempters exhibited higher rates on eating symptomatology, general psychopathology, impulsive behaviors, more frequent history of childhood obesity and parental alcohol abuse (p < 0.004). Suicide attempters exhibited higher scores on harm avoidance and lower on self-directedness, reward dependence and cooperativeness (p < 0.002). The most strongly correlated variables with SA were: lower education, minimum BMI, previous eating disorder treatment, low self-directedness, and familial history of alcohol abuse (p < 0.006).ConclusionOur results support the notion that internalizing personality traits combined with impulsivity may increase the probability of suicidal behaviors in these patients. Future research may increase our understanding of the role of suicidality to work towards rational prevention of suicidal attempts.

The Significance of a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse in Bulimia Nervosa

1995 ◽  
Vol 167 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick F. Sullivan ◽  
Cynthia M. Bulik ◽  
Frances A. Carter ◽  
Peter R. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Global Functioning ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
Bulimic Symptoms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Bulimic Women

BackgroundChildhood sexual abuse (CSA) is found to have occurred to a substantial minority of women with bulimia nervosa. Its clinical significance is unclear.MethodWe studied 87 bulimic women in a clinical trial. Structured interviews determined the presence of CSA, DSM–III–R disorders, global functioning, and depressive and bulimic symptoms.ResultsForty-four per cent reported a history of CSA. Bulimic women with CSA reported earlier onset of bulimia, greater depressive symptoms, worse global functioning and more suicide attempts, and were more likely to meet criteria for bipolar II disorder, alcohol and drug dependence, conduct disorder and avoidant personality disorder.ConclusionsAlthough those with CSA had greater comorbidity, it was not an important modifier of bulimic symptoms.

scholarly journals Neuropsychological deficits in past suicide attempters with varying levels of depression severity

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (14) ◽  
pp. 2965-2974 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Keilp ◽  
S. R. Beers ◽  
A. K. Burke ◽  
N. M. Melhem ◽  
M. A. Oquendo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Major Depression ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Past History ◽  
Clinical State ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
History Of ◽  
Attention Memory ◽  
Interference Processing

BackgroundOur previous work identified deficits in interference processing and learning/memory in past suicide attempters who were currently depressed and medication-free. In this study, we extend this work to an independent sample studied at various stages of illness and treatment (mild symptoms, on average) to determine if these deficits in past suicide attempters are evident during a less severe clinical state.MethodA total of 80 individuals with a past history of major depression and suicide attempt were compared with 81 individuals with a history of major depression and no lifetime suicide attempts on a battery of neurocognitive measures assessing attention, memory, abstract/contingent learning, working memory, language fluency and impulse control.ResultsPast attempters performed more poorly in attention, memory and working memory domains, but also in an estimate of pre-morbid intelligence. After correction for this estimate, tests that had previously distinguished past attempters – a computerized Stroop task and the Buschke Selective Reminding Test – remained significantly worse in attempters. In a secondary analysis, similar differences were found among those with the lowest levels of depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score <10), suggesting that these deficits may be trait markers independent of current symptomatology.ConclusionsDeficits in interference processing and learning/memory constitute an enduring defect in information processing that may contribute to poor adaptation, other higher-order cognitive impairments and risk for suicidal behavior.

Significance of Positive and Negative Syndromes in Chronic Schizophrenia

1986 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Kay ◽  
L. A. Opler ◽  
A. Fiszbein
Keyword(s):  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Chronic Schizophrenia ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
General Psychopathology ◽  
Developmental Impairment ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
History Of ◽  
Patient Stay ◽  
Negative Syndrome

Positive and negative syndromes were studied in relation to demographic, historical, genealogical, clinical, psychometric, extrapyramidal, and follow-up measures of 101 chronic schizophrenic patients. The criterion scales proved to be reliable, normally distributed, and strongly correlated with general psychopathology, but otherwise inversely related to one another. Multiple regression analysis identified sets of 4–6 independent variables that explained 74%-81 % of the scales' variance. A positive syndrome was associated chiefly with productive features, family history of sociopathy, more previous hospital admissions, and longer in-patient stay during the 30-month follow-up period. A negative syndrome correlated with deficits in cognitive, affective, social, and motor spheres, higher incidence of major psychiatric illness but less affective disorder among relatives, lower education, and greater cognitive developmental impairment. The results underscore the importance of genetic and biodevelopmental variables for understanding schizophrenic syndromes.

scholarly journals Impulsivity in Bulimia Nervosa

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Mounir Ghandour ◽  
Lindsey Bischel ◽  
Bridgette Harrell ◽  
Grace Bailey ◽  
Alexandra Grillo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Self Control ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Q Sort

Abstract Background: Despite increasing evidence impulsive traits play a role in bulimia nervosa, the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include impulsivity as part of the criteria for this eating disorder. Method:Using Q sort, a methodology specifically well suited to the expression of individual viewpoints, twenty-six undergraduate women split into two categories - women with bulimia nervosa; women without bulimia nervosa - ranked a total of forty-four statements that were reflective of impulsivity. These statements were derived from a multitude of sources to ensure proper representativeness: academic literature, the popular press, various audio-visual media outlets, focus groups and social media sites. Results:A factor analysis was performed that generated two distinct factors that essentially split participants along the lines of a presence or absence of bulimia nervosa. Factor A, called Thinking Through, was characterized by a methodical and carefully processed approach around decision-making, thinking through consequences of actions, and a general tendency towards planning and organization. With the exception of one participant, this factor was represented by participants with no history of bulimia nervosa thus indicating individuals with this eating disorder did not endorse this factor. Factor B, called Negative Urgency and Obsessive Thinking, was characterized by an urge for pleasure-seeking, quick action, a lack of self-control and difficulty postponing reward. Endorsers of this factor often regret decisions made rashly yet tend to repeat actions that feel urgent, despite negative consequences. This factor, with the exception of one participant, consisted of individuals with a history of bulimia nervosa. Conclusion:Such finding provides additional evidence for a pattern of impulsivity in women with bulimia nervosa that is not found in their healthy counterparts. In addition, it provides clinicians treating this disorder a guidepost for a more targeted treatment of bulimia and further enhances the need for impulsivity to be included as one of its diagnostic criteria.

Characteristics of suicide attempters with a high lethality means

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s889-s889
Author(s):  
C.T. Lee ◽  
S.Y. Lee ◽  
K.U. Lee ◽  
H.K. Lee ◽  
Y.S. Kweon
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Judgment ◽  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
History Of ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Lethal Means

IntroductionSuicide attempts with higher lethality increase the likelihood of suicide completion. Accumulating knowledge on risk factors contributing to higher suicide lethality may help clinicians to allocate their limited resources to more endangered people.ObjectivesTo explore the factors associated with higher lethality in suicide attempts.MethodsAll suicide attempters, who visited the emergency department of Uijeongbu St. Mary's hospital from January 2014 to December 2015, were reviewed retrospectively. We compared between the high vs. the low lethality group, of which had been recorded based on clinical judgment using t-test or Chi2/Fisher's exact test with two-sided P-value of 0.05.ResultsAmong the 753 suicide attempters, the assessed lethality was recorded in 736 cases. Low and highly lethal attempters were 426 (57.9%) and 310 (42.1%), respectively. For demographic variables, the high lethality attempters were significantly more likely to be older (48.3 vs. 44.78; P = 0.009), unemployed (61.0% vs. 56.5%; P = 0.042, without religion (90.9% vs. 84.9%; P = 0.017). For clinical variables, the high lethality attempters were significantly more likely have hopelessness (67.7% vs. 58.2%; P = 0.013) and a history of schizophrenia (4.5% vs. 1.4%; P = 0.023, while they did display any difference for mood disorders. The low lethality suicide attempts were more frequent in patients with comorbid personality disorders (9.2% vs. 4.9%; P = 0.031).ConclusionsThese results are in line with literatures reporting higher suicide risk in people, who are old, unemployed, not having a religion, psychotic and hopeless. These may have been moderated by committing a higher lethal means of suicide at least in part and warrants additional investigations.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Do Females with Bulimia Nervosa and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified Have Selective Memory Biases?

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 602-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Griffith ◽  
Willem Kuyken ◽  
Ed Watkins ◽  
Alysun Jones
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Word Type ◽  
Word Recall ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Memory Biases ◽  
Not Otherwise Specified ◽  
Significant Difference

Background: The cognitive model suggests memory biases for weight/shape and food related information could be important in the maintenance of eating disorders. Aims: The current study aims to evaluate this and extend previous research by (a) including females with eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) as a discreet group; (b) considering whether levels of hunger and the pleasantness of the stimulus words are important in word recall. Method: The study includes three groups of females, 16 with bulimia nervosa, 18 with EDNOS and 17 non-dieting general population controls. All participants completed a self-referential encoding and memory recall task. Results: A main effect of word type (p < .01) with no group by word type interaction or between group difference was found. A priori contrasts indicated that both eating disorder groups recalled significantly more weight/shape and food words compared to all other word categories (p < .01) compared to the control group; with no significant difference found between the eating disorder groups. In relation to the recall of food words, no significant differences were found between groups for levels of hunger. Both eating disorder groups rated the negative weight/shape (p < .01), negative food (p < .01) and neutral body words (p < .01) as more unpleasant than the control group. Conclusions: The implications for cognitive theory and future research are discussed.

scholarly journals Bipolar disorder first episode and suicidal behavior: are there differences according to type of suicide attempt?

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Silva Neves ◽  
Leandro Fernandes Malloy-Diniz ◽  
Izabela Guimarães Barbosa ◽  
Paulo Marcos Brasil ◽  
Humberto Corrêa
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Mean Square ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Lifetime History ◽  
Bipolar Ii ◽  
History Of

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the polarity of the first mood episode may be a marker for suicidal behavior, particularly the violent subtype. METHOD: One hundred and sixty-eight patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (DSM-IV) were grouped according to type of first episode: depression or manic/hypomanic. Groups were compared for demographic and clinical variables. We performed logistic regression in order to test the association between first episode polarity and suicidal behavior. RESULTS: We found that depressed patients have a lifetime history of more suicide attempts. However, univariate analysis of number of suicide attempts showed that the best model fits the bipolar II subtype (mean square = 15.022; p = 0.010) and lifetime history of psychotic episodes (mean square = 17.359; p = 0.021). Subgrouping the suicide attempts by subtype (violent or non-violent) revealed that manic/hypomanic patients had a greater tendency toward attempting violent suicide (21.2 vs. 14.7%, X² = 7.028, p = 0.03). Multiple logistic regression analysis confirmed this result. CONCLUSION: Depressed patients had more suicide attempts over time, which could be explained by the higher prevalence of bipolar II subtype in this group, whereas manic/hypomanic patients had a lifelong history of more frequent violent suicide attempts, not explained by any of the variables studied. Our results support the evidence that non-violent suicide attempters and violent suicide attempters tend to belong to different phenotypic groups.

p75NTR gene and suicide attempts in young adults with a history of childhood-onset mood disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 144B (5) ◽  
pp. 696-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. McGregor ◽  
J. Strauss ◽  
N. Bulgin ◽  
V. De Luca ◽  
C.J. George ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Mood Disorder ◽  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Childhood Onset ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
History Of

Temperament traits in male suicide attempters and violent offenders

1999 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 278-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Engström ◽  
B. Persson ◽  
S. Levander
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Violent Offenders ◽  
Indirect Aggression ◽  
Normal Range ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
Male Suicide ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Trait ◽  
Temperament Traits ◽  
High Trait Anxiety

SummaryWith the purpose of comparing temperament traits in subjects who have been violent towards others and with subjects who have shown self-directed violence, 34 male suicide attempters and 34 male violent offenders were matched for age and psychiatric diagnosis. Violent offenders with a history of suicide attempts were excluded. Temperament traits were assessed by means of the Karolinska Scales of Personality.The temperament profiles of suicide attempters and violent offenders were very similar, with high trait anxiety and very low socialization. Violent offenders displayed significantly higher social desirability (P < 0.001). Suicide attempters tended to have higher indirect aggression and monotony avoidance. Impulsiveness, verbal aggression, and inhibition of aggression were within the normal range in both groups. There were substantial temperamental similarities between suicide attempters and violent offenders. In order to disentangle the differential mechanisms behind aggression towards self and others, we probably need to consider historical as well as current situation factors in a systematic way.

A Study of Deliberate Self-Harm and Its Repetition Among Patients Presenting to an Emergency Department

Crisis ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 217-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S. F. Yip ◽  
Keith Hawton ◽  
Kayuet Liu ◽  
Kwong-sun Liu ◽  
Pauline W. L. Ng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Outpatient Service ◽  
Alcohol Problems ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Deliberate Self Harm ◽  
History Of Childhood ◽  
Self Mutilation ◽  
Life Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Self Harm

Background: Marked differences have been found in the characteristics of people dying by suicide in Western and Asian countries. However, there is less information available on possible differences for deliberate self-harm (DSH). Aims: To compare the characteristics of people presenting to hospital in Hong Kong and Oxford (UK) with DSH, and to assess the outcome of those persons in Hong Kong. Methods: A sample of DSH patients admitted to the accident and emergency (A&E) department of a regional hospital in Hong Kong was assessed and followed up 6 months later to assess the risk of repetition of DSH, and was then compared with such patients in Oxford. Results: The majority of patients in Hong Kong were female (male:female ratio of 1:2.4), young (59% were under 35), and had used self-poisoning (78%). Over one-third were single (37%) and one-fourth unemployed (26%). About half (49%) scored in the high or very high categories of the Beck’s Suicide Intent Scale, considerably more so than in Oxford; 44.6% of patients defaulted psychiatric outpatient service during the 6-month follow-up period. The repetition rate within the following 6 months was 16.7%. The number of self-reported adverse life problems, history of childhood sexual and physical abuse, and repetitive self-mutilation were shown to be the factors most strongly correlated with the risk of re-attempt. Alcohol problems were much lower than in Oxford. Conclusions: The findings show that DSH patients in Hong Kong show some marked differences compared to those in Oxford. Implications for the prevention of repeated DSH in Hong Kong are discussed.

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