Shame-proneness in attempted suicide patients

BMC Psychiatry

Marie Åsberg²  Gunnar Rylander¹  Alexander Wilczek¹  Åsa Nilsonne¹  Jussi Jokinen¹  Mats Samuelsson³  Maria Wiklander³ 

[1] Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Clinical Sciences Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

关键词: Affective disorders;    Borderline personality disorder;    Shame;    Attempted suicide;   

Others  :  1124381
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-12-50

 received in 2011-10-24, accepted in 2012-05-09,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

It has been suggested that shame may be an important feature in suicidal behaviors. The disposition to react with shame, “shame-proneness”, has previously not been investigated in groups of attempted suicide patients. We examined shame-proneness in two groups of attempted suicide patients, one group of non-suicidal patients and one group of healthy controls. We hypothesized that the attempted suicide patients would be more shame-prone than non-suicidal patients and healthy controls.

Methods

The Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA), which is the most used measure of shame-proneness, was completed by attempted suicide patients (n = 175: 105 women and 3 men with borderline personality disorder [BPD], 45 women and 22 men without BPD), non-suicidal psychiatric patients (n = 162), and healthy controls (n = 161). The participants were convenience samples, with patients from three clinical research projects and healthy controls from a fourth research project. The relationship between shame-proneness and attempted suicide was studied with group comparisons and multiple regressions. Men and women were analyzed separately.

Results

Women were generally more shame-prone than men of the same participant group. Female suicide attempters with BPD were significantly more shame-prone than both female suicide attempters without BPD and female non-suicidal patients and controls. Male suicide attempters without BPD were significantly less shame-prone than non-suicidal male patients. In multiple regressions, shame-proneness was predicted by level of depression and BPD (but not by attempted suicide) in female patients, and level of depression and non-suicidality in male patients.

Conclusions

Contrary to our hypothesis and related previous research, there was no general relationship between shame-proneness and attempted suicide. Shame-proneness was differentially related to attempted suicide in different groups of suicide attempters, with significantly high shame-proneness among female suicide attempters with BPD and a negative relationship between shame-proneness and attempted suicide among male patients. More research on state and trait shame in different groups of suicidal individuals seems clinically relevant.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Wiklander et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Fig. 1.

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