Temperament and character personality profile in relation to suicide attempts in patients with schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is associated with a significant risk of suicide, and suicide still remains one of the main causes of death in schizophrenic patients. Beside classic risk factors for suicidality, temperament and character traits have been researched and considered as risk factors for suicidal behavior in recent years.

Subjects were 94 patients with schizophrenia who were under treatment. All patients were in a stable phase of the illness. Patients with lifetime suicide attempt (n = 46) and without suicidal attempt (n = 48) were compared with each other in terms of temperament and character traits by using the Temperament and Character Inventory.

Harm avoidance and persistence scores were higher in suicidal schizophrenic patients compared with nonsuicidal schizophrenic patients. The scores of self-directedness and cooperativeness were lower in suicidal schizophrenic patients compared with nonsuicidal schizophrenic patients. These 4 variables remained significant predictors of lifetime suicidal attempts in a logistic regression model.

To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first that specifically compares schizophrenic patients with and without suicidal behavior by the Cloninger temperament and character model. Our data indicate that schizophrenic patients will show a greater risk for suicide according to certain personality configurations. However, to establish causal relationships between personality and suicidality in schizophrenia, longitudinal studies are warranted within a multifactorial interactive framework of biologic and clinical variables.