Suicide among Psychiatric Inpatients of Older Ages

Abstract

The problem of suicide at older ages is considerable. To date, there are virtually no data on how older psychiatric inpatients differ from other similar groups on background/treatment variables related to suicide, “traditional” aging suicidal variables, and standard psychometric tests sensitive to suicide. Four inpatient groups were identified based on age (< 40 yr. or > 54 yr.) and current suicidal behavior (suicidal, nonsuicidal but depressed) and compared on these variables. Older suicidal inpatients were different from the other groups of inpatients on very few variables. Older suicidal patients were given a diagnosis of depression, made more suicidal gestures, had suicidal ideation (except for younger suicidal group), had operative physical problems (except for older nonsuicidal group), and tended not to act-out relative to other groups. On the psychometric measures, age, and not suicidal problems, was largely responsible for any differences between older suicidal patients and the other groups. Many traditional aging suicidal variables did not differentiate among the groups.