[Cognitive and emotional factors in major depression and suicide]

Suicide is defined as ending ones life with his own will. It is the most frequent reason of death in psychiatry and accepted as tragic since it can be the cause of young peoples deaths. In this study patients with recent suicide attempt were compared with major depression patients without suicide history and the control group by means of emotional and cognitive variables since suicide is an important complication of major depression and both have similar cognitive processes.

Thirty patients from each group were assessed by means of demographic variables, Beck depression inventory, UCLA loneliness scale, automatic thoughts scale, and suicide probability scale. Results were analyzed by SPSS for Windows.

Three groups were not statistically different by means of demographic variables except age and sex. Women were high risk group for major depression and suicide. The mean age of suicide group was significantly lower than major depression group. When analyzed by means of emotional and cognitive variables; the suicide group had high depressive symptomatology. Automatic thoughts scale scores were higher in the suicide group than the major depression group. Three groups did not differ by means of UCLA loneliness scores. When groups were compared by suicide probability scale; the major depression group and the suicide group did not differ in sub scales except hostility.

Major depression groups high scores in hostility scale which may be the explanation of suicide; is one of the most important findings in this study