A cross-sectional investigation of the suicidal spectrum: typologies of suicidality based on ambivalence about living and dying

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the validity of assigning suicidal individuals into differing typologies of suicidality based on their reported wish to live and wish to die.MethodsOne hundred five inpatients who reported suicidal ideation in the previous 48 hours completed a battery of assessments during inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. An algorithm was used to assign participants into 1 of 3 typologies of suicide: wish to live, ambivalent, or wish to die. Discriminant function analysis and group classification were used to predict group membership, followed by multiple analysis of variance and follow-up contrasts to measure between-group differences.Main ResultsGroup classification resulted in 76% accuracy for predicting typology of suicidality based on scores from suicide-specific measures. Self-perceived risk of suicide and hopelessness were the strongest variables at differentiating between the 3 groups. Patients in the wish to die typology were less likely to report having never made a suicide attempt.ConclusionsCreating typologies of suicidality may prove useful to clinicians seeking to better differentiate among suicidal patients within a limited period of assessment.