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Suicidality Connected with Mentalizing Anomalies in Schizophrenia
Author(s) -
Duñó Rosó,
Pousa Esther,
Miguélez Mónica,
Montalvo Itziar,
Suarez David,
Tobeña Adolf
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04602.x
Subject(s) - mentalization , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , neuropsychology , theory of mind , logistic regression , psychiatry , suicide attempt , clinical psychology , association (psychology) , suicidal ideation , psychosis , social cognition , poison control , injury prevention , cognition , developmental psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , medical emergency
Deficits in social cognition contribute to the severe difficulties in daily functioning of schizophrenic patients, although they have never been connected with suicidality. Theory of mind (ToM) tasks explore basic social abilities and have been found to be defective in schizophrenia. The relationship between ToM anomalies and suicidal history was studied in a sample of 57 stabilized outpatients. Logistic regression analysis showed an association between poor performance on second‐order ToM tasks and a greater likelihood of suicidality in schizophrenic patients (OR = 4.02, 95% CI 1.18–13.62), which was independent of current clinical and neuropsychological status, with the exception of poor premorbid adjustment in infancy and adolescence. We caution against potential biases from mixing cross‐sectional ToM scores with lifetime suicidal records and retrospective assessments of premorbid adjustment through repeated testing of patients and their relatives. Hence, the present findings suggest that ToM deficits may contribute to the high risk of suicide in schizophrenia.