Cognitive Biases and Suicidal Ideation in Elderly Psychiatric Inpatients

Bibliographic Data

ID13627697
AuthorsHeather Uncapher (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume42
Issue1
Pages21-36
Publication date2001-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2190/6uu8-hk8e-hl0v-q4cu
OpenAlexW2030453313
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited47

Cognitive factors such as perceptions of poor health and negative expectancies toward the future may mediate relationships between health variables, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. In this study of risk factors associated with late life suicidal ideation, thirty older psychiatric inpatients were interviewed using standardized instruments. Self-reported symptoms of hopelessness, perceived health, and depression, as well as number of impaired medical illness systems were examined in relation to presence of suicidal thoughts. Several aspects of a cognitive model of suicide were supported using partial correlation and regression analyses. First, patients who were more depressed and suicidal had more negative cognitions than those who were less depressed and not suicidal. Second, depressive symptoms were strongly related to suicidal thoughts even after controlling for the patients' number of impaired illness systems. Third, cognitive factors versus health factors were shown to influence the relationship between depression and suicidal ideation. These findings emphasize the importance of cognitive biases in geriatric suicidal ideation

Cognition · Depression (economics · Medical emergency · Poison control · Psychiatry · Suicidal ideation · Suicide prevention · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies