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. 2014 Feb;155(100):241-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.11.006. Epub 2013 Nov 18.

Comfort from suicidal cognition in recurrently depressed patients

Catherine Crane  1 , Thorsten Barnhofer  2 , Danielle S Duggan  2 , Catrin Eames  3 , Silvia Hepburn  4 , Dhruvi Shah  2 , J Mark G Williams  2
Affiliations

Comfort from suicidal cognition in recurrently depressed patients

Catherine Crane et al. J Affect Disord. 2014 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Previous research has suggested that some individuals may obtain comfort from their suicidal cognitions.

Method: This study explored clinical variables associated with comfort from suicidal cognition using a newly developed 5 item measure in 217 patients with a history of recurrent depression and suicidality, of whom 98 were followed up to at least one relapse to depression and reported data on suicidal ideation during the follow-up phase.

Results: Results indicated that a minority of patients, around 15%, reported experiencing comfort from suicidal cognitions and that comfort was associated with several markers of a more severe clinical profile including both worst ever prior suicidal ideation and worst suicidal ideation over a 12 month follow-up period.

Limitations: Few patients self-harmed during the follow-up period preventing an examination of associations between comfort and repetition of self-harm.

Conclusions: These results, although preliminary, suggest that future theoretical and clinical research would benefit from further consideration of the concept of comfort from suicidal thinking.

Keywords: Cognition; Comfort; Depression; Suicidality.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mean item endorsement on the comfort scale at the baseline assessment (n=217). Note: mean item endorsement of 1 corresponds to an average rating of ‘strongly disagree’. Mean item rating of 3 corresponds to neither agree nor disagree. A mean item rating of 5 corresponds to ‘strongly agree’.
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