Dependency and Self-Criticism as Predictors of Suicidal Behavior

• Published in: Suicide & life-threatening behavior 2003-06, Vol.33 (2), p.172-185
• Main Authors: Fazaa, Norman, Page, Stewart
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Attitude to Death; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; College Students; Criticism; Dependence; Dependency (Personality); Dependency (Psychology); Dependents; Depression (Psychology); Developmental Tasks; Environmental Influences; Female; Higher Education; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Interpersonal Relationship; Interview, Psychological; Life Events; Male; Medical sciences; Mental depression; Meta Analysis; Motivation; Personality; Personality Inventory; Personality Traits; Prediction; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Rating Scales; Risk Factors; Self Concept; Self Destructive Behavior; Self evaluation; Sex Differences; Stress, Psychological - complications; Students - psychology; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - prevention & control; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Suicides & suicide attempts; Undergraduate Students
• ISSN: 0363-0234; 1943-278X
• DOI: 10.1521/suli.33.2.172.22777

Individuals have been theorized to develop anaclitic and introjective depression to the extent that they may be characterized as dependent and self‐critical, respectively (e.g., Blatt, 1990). Blatt's theory was applied to suicidal behavior to determine if suicidal behavior could also be reliably broken down into two distinctive types, with respect to a number of parameters. Sixty‐four undergraduate students who had attempted suicide were interviewed, and the lethality of their attempts was assessed with the Risk‐Rescue Rating scale (Weisman & Worden, 1972). Participants were also administered an Intent and Precipitating Events scale, a modified version of the BDI‐II, and the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). Self‐critical individuals showed greater intent to die and greater lethality in their suicide attempts than did dependents. Self‐critics were also more likely to attempt in response to an intrapsychic stressor, with the explicit motivation to escape. In contrast, dependents were more likely to attempt in response to an interpersonal stressor, with the motivation to communicate some form of unhappiness. Implications for suicide prediction and treatment are discussed, with special reference to the importance of identifying different suicidal subtypes.