Supervisors info:
Ρωσσέτος Γουρνέλλης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, Επιβλέπων
Χρήστος Χριστοδούλου, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Ιωάννης Μιχόπουλος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
BACKGROUND: Suicide is a major public health concern. The aims of this study were to examine, in a selected clinical population, the effect of (a) early childhood trauma and (b) stressful life events on the occurrence of suicidal behavior during adulthood. Specifically, the present study focuses on whether, how and to what extent each of these under study parameters is related to self-destructive behavior.
METHOD: A total of 122 psychiatric patients were studied from the clinical population of University Hospital "Attikon" (N=122). In particular, the 61 were patients with history of suicide attempts, of which 31 patients have history of one previous attempt and 30 have history of multiple previous attempts, and the 61 were patients with history of depressive disorder without history of suicide attempt (control group). Participants completed 11 self-report questionnaires, including among others measures of early childhood trauma (ETI-SR-SF), lifetime events (SRRS), depression (BDI-I), hopelessness (BHS), symptoms relative to traumatic experiences (TSC-40) and coping of stressful life events (COPE-Brief). Thereafter, the data were recorded electronically and analyzed through the statistical processing program of the Statistical Social Science Package (SPSS-17).
RESULTS: The main findings indicated that: the total score for early childhood trauma, the types of trauma emotional abuse and physical abuse, the score for negative assessment of recent life events, the score for depression, as well as the score for hopelessness were significantly associated with suicide attempts during adulthood. Moreover, the coping strategies of: active coping, planning, acceptance, use of emotional support, use of instrumental support, positive reframing and behavioral disengagement were significantly negative correlated with adulthood suicide attempts.
CONCLUSIONS: Multiple childhood traumatic experiences, childhood emotional abuse and physical abuse, were found in higher levels in patients with recent suicide attempt compared to patients without history of attempted suicide. It was, also, found that patients with history of suicide attempts had a significantly higher score in negative assessment of their recent life events compared to patients without history of attempts. The above findings, although they cannot be generalized, support the role of early childhood trauma and stressful life events during adulthood as risk factors for suicide attempts at least in adult psychiatric patients; and suggest that their early detection in psychiatric patients may be beneficial for suicide prevention for high-risk individuals.
Keywords:
Early trauma, Stressful life events, Suicidality, Traumatic events, Suicidal behavior, Trauma
