Psychiatric Disorders and Personality Profiles of Middle-Aged Suicide Attempters with no Evidence of Specific Psychopathological Profiles Referring to an Emergency Department

The aim of the present study was to assess socio-demographic and psychiatric characteristics of 40-65 years old suicide attempters referred to an emergency department within four hours of making their attempt.
We assessed a total of 93 suicide attempters (Mage=46.59 years) referred to an emergency department. Patients completed questionnaires covering socio-demographic data, personality traits, mood, and impulsivity; experts rated patients’ psychiatric status.
Experts rated 85 (92.4%) of the suicide attempters as having a psychiatric disorder. Based on self-ratings and compared to normative data, 42 (46.6%) were psychopathologically ill. Suicide attempts were not related to impulsive personality traits, mood disorders, socio-demographic patterns or gender (gender-ratio: 1:1.58;f:m).
The pattern of results suggests that further unknown factors were involved in pushing people to attempt suicide.