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Correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly depressed sample

Correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly depressed sample
Correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly depressed sample
Background: suicidal ideation has been shown to be strongly associated with suicide completion and elders take their own lives more than any other age group.

Methods: the present study examined clinical and phenomenological correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly sample (n=167) derived from subjects enrolled in the Duke Clinical Research Center for the Study of Depression in Late Life.

Results: bivariate results indicated that clinical variables associated with psychomotor retardation, a history of dysthymia, a previous psychiatric in-patient stay, and being a ‘younger’ elder were related to greater suicidal ideation. Multivariate analyses indicated that feeling guilty, sinful, or worthless was associated with over six times greater odds of having suicidal thoughts.

Limitations: findings are based on correlational analyses, and thus, the direction of causality cannot be inferred. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for clinicians of some of the ‘red flags’ associated with the presence of suicidal ideation among depressed older adults
suicidal ideation, depression, elderly, cognition
0165-0327
9-15
Lynch, Thomas R.
29e90123-0aef-46c8-b320-1617fb48bb20
Johnson, Courtney S.
9f95ed38-a809-4450-96d4-ef6d6fdd0257
Mendelson, Tamar
5a1cf0cb-40c2-48dd-b1a2-9c785f9ec2d4
Robins, Clive J.
5fcd3fd0-adbf-4859-a7c1-c01138ec0101
Krishnan, K.Ranga R.
ca354896-d3a7-45a4-a5a4-080f599d220f
Blazer, Dan G.
c52653df-803c-4936-a93e-a7c118c96859
Lynch, Thomas R.
29e90123-0aef-46c8-b320-1617fb48bb20
Johnson, Courtney S.
9f95ed38-a809-4450-96d4-ef6d6fdd0257
Mendelson, Tamar
5a1cf0cb-40c2-48dd-b1a2-9c785f9ec2d4
Robins, Clive J.
5fcd3fd0-adbf-4859-a7c1-c01138ec0101
Krishnan, K.Ranga R.
ca354896-d3a7-45a4-a5a4-080f599d220f
Blazer, Dan G.
c52653df-803c-4936-a93e-a7c118c96859

Lynch, Thomas R., Johnson, Courtney S., Mendelson, Tamar, Robins, Clive J., Krishnan, K.Ranga R. and Blazer, Dan G. (1999) Correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly depressed sample. Journal of Affective Disorders, 56 (1), 9-15. (doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(99)00022-1). (PMID:10626775)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: suicidal ideation has been shown to be strongly associated with suicide completion and elders take their own lives more than any other age group.

Methods: the present study examined clinical and phenomenological correlates of suicidal ideation among an elderly sample (n=167) derived from subjects enrolled in the Duke Clinical Research Center for the Study of Depression in Late Life.

Results: bivariate results indicated that clinical variables associated with psychomotor retardation, a history of dysthymia, a previous psychiatric in-patient stay, and being a ‘younger’ elder were related to greater suicidal ideation. Multivariate analyses indicated that feeling guilty, sinful, or worthless was associated with over six times greater odds of having suicidal thoughts.

Limitations: findings are based on correlational analyses, and thus, the direction of causality cannot be inferred. Conclusions: This study provides evidence for clinicians of some of the ‘red flags’ associated with the presence of suicidal ideation among depressed older adults

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More information

Published date: November 1999
Keywords: suicidal ideation, depression, elderly, cognition

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 194027
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/194027
ISSN: 0165-0327
PURE UUID: ca1d5120-7a89-4024-b7db-6ef6b844e10e
ORCID for Thomas R. Lynch: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1270-6097

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Date deposited: 22 Jul 2011 12:59
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:32

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Contributors

Author: Thomas R. Lynch ORCID iD
Author: Courtney S. Johnson
Author: Tamar Mendelson
Author: Clive J. Robins
Author: K.Ranga R. Krishnan
Author: Dan G. Blazer

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