Are Demoralization and Insight Involved in Suicide Risk? An Observational Study on Psychiatric Inpatients

Several features contribute to determining suicide risk. This study was designed with the aim of evaluating whether insight into illness and demoralization are involved in suicide risk (active suicidal ideation or behavior).

For this purpose, in a sample of 100 adult psychiatric inpatients, we used the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale to assess suicide risk, the Demoralization Scale for demoralization symptoms, and the Insight Scale to assess illness insight. We also investigated several demographic and clinical features, including gender, age, duration of untreated illness, previous suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior.

The results demonstrated that patients with higher scores on the insight-high dimension had 1.35 greater odds of having a higher suicide risk, and those with lifetime suicide attempts had 7.45 greater odds of having a higher suicide risk. Among the various clinical factors, the study indicated that only nonsuicidal self-harm behaviors in the last 3 months was a risk factor for suicide risk.

The results indicated that greater illness insight is involved in suicide risk regardless of demoralization.