Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul;165(2-3):152-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.04.022. Epub 2015 May 7.

Assessing suicidal ideation in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

Kelly E Gill  1 , Jean M Quintero  2 , S Lucy Poe  2 , Alvaro D Moreira  2 , Gary Brucato  2 , Cheryl M Corcoran  2 , Ragy R Girgis  2
Affiliations

Assessing suicidal ideation in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis

Kelly E Gill et al. Schizophr Res. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The majority of individuals with schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses have had suicidal ideation at some point during the illness. However, little is known about the variation in level and intensity of suicidal ideation and symptoms in the attenuated stage of psychotic illness. Our aims were to assess prevalence of suicidal ideation in this at risk group, and to examine the severity and intensity of suicidal ideation, and their relation to symptoms.

Methods: Suicidal ideation was assessed in 42 clinical high-risk participants using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). We hypothesized that prevalence rates would be similar to what was found in previous studies, and individuals with suicidal ideation would have higher positive and negative symptoms, with poorer functioning. We assessed levels of severity and intensity of suicidal ideation related to these symptoms, and examined how depressive symptoms affected these relationships.

Results: Nearly half (42.9%) of participants reported having current suicidal ideation. We found no relationship to positive symptoms. However, severity and intensity of suicidal ideation were found to be related to negative symptoms and level of functioning. When controlling for depressive symptoms during exploratory analysis, this relationship still emerged.

Conclusions: This study adds to the literature demonstrating the complex nature of suicidal ideation in psychotic illness. The C-SSRS has shown to be helpful in determining relationships between severity and intensity in suicidal ideation in relation to specific symptoms in a research setting.

Keywords: Clinical high risk; Functioning; Psychosis; Schizophrenia; Suicidal ideation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

Ragy R. Girgis declares research support from Otsuka and Genentech. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Severity of Suicidal Ideation (SI) in Clinical High Risk (CHR) Individuals
Figure 2
Figure 2
Symptoms and Functioning in Clinical High Risk (CHR) Individuals with and without Suicidal Ideation (SI) *p<.05 **p<.01
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Andriopoulos I, Ellul J, Skokou M, Beratis S. Suicidality in the “prodromal” phase of schizophrenia. Comp Psychiat. 2011;52(5):479–485. - PubMed
    1. Auther A, Smith C, Cornblatt B. Global Functioning Scale: Social (GFS: Social) Zucker Hillside Hospital; Glen Oaks, NY: 2006.
    1. Beck AT, Ward CH, Mendelson J, Mock J, Erbaugh J. An inventory for measuring depression. Arch Gen Psychiat. 1961;4:53–63. - PubMed
    1. Bertelsen M, Jeppesen PIA, Petersen L, Thorup A, Øhlenschlaeger J, le Quach P, Christensen TØ, Krarup G, Jørgensen P, Nordentoft M. Suicidal behaviour and mortality in first-episode psychosis: the OPUS trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2007;191(51):s140–s146. - PubMed
    1. Caldwell CB, Gottesman I. Schizophrenics kill themselves too. Schizophrenia Bull. 1990;16:571–586. - PubMed

Publication types