Classification of suicidal and nonsuicidal outpatients: a cluster-analytic approach

J Clin Psychol. 1993 Sep;49(5):603-14. doi: 10.1002/1097-4679(199309)49:5<603::aid-jclp2270490502>3.0.co;2-y.

Abstract

The revised Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) were administered to 1,172 outpatients diagnosed with mixed psychiatric disorders. The SSI then was used to classify the patients into 127 (10.8%) suicide ideators and 1,045 (89.2%) nonideators. Both agglomerative-hierarchical and nonhierarchical cluster analyses then were employed to identify three types of nonideators, who represented anxious depressed, hopeless depressed, and below-average overall symptomatology, and four types of ideators, who reflected hopeless, anxious depressed, severely suicidal, and below-average overall symptomatology. Implications of these classification systems for describing psychopathology were discussed.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Ambulatory Care*
  • Anxiety Disorders / classification
  • Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
  • Anxiety Disorders / psychology
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Depressive Disorder / classification
  • Depressive Disorder / diagnosis
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / classification*
  • Mental Disorders / diagnosis
  • Mental Disorders / psychology
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality Inventory
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Sex Factors
  • Suicide / psychology*
  • Suicide / statistics & numerical data