Aggression, suicide, and serotonin: relationships to CSF amine metabolites

TLDR

Previous research linked lower CSF 5‑HIAA levels to aggression and suicide in personality disorder patients without affective illness. The current study examined the life history of aggression and suicide attempts in 12 borderline personality disorder patients without major affective disorder. They assessed aggression and suicide histories in these 12 patients. Histories of aggression and suicide attempts were significantly associated with each other and with lower 5‑HIAA levels, suggesting altered serotonin metabolism may contribute to these behaviors across diagnostic groups.

Abstract

In an earlier, separate study, the authors found that human aggression and suicide (a specific aggression-related behavior) were associated with lower levels of CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a serotonin metabolite. That study focused on subjects with personality disorders without affective illness. In the present study they examine the life history of aggression and history of suicidal behavior in 12 subjects with borderline personality disorders without major affective disorder. Histories of aggressive behaviors and of suicide attempts were significantly associated with each other, and each was significantly associated with lower 5-HIAA levels. Altered serotonin metabolism may be a highly significant contributing factor to these behaviors in whatever diagnostic group they occur.