MCMI‐III scores on substance abusers with and without histories of suicide attempts

Abstract

Sixty‐eight patients with a history of suicide attempt were compared to 340 patients without a history of suicide attempt using the MCMI‐III, a frequently used test for measuring personality disorders. Patients with a suicide attempt history scored higher on Schizoid, Avoidant, Depression, Dependent, Passive‐Aggressive (Negativistic), Self‐Defeating, and Paranoid and significantly lower on Histrionic and Compulsive and scored higher on all clinical syndrome scales except for Drug Dependence and Delusional Disorder. Logistic regression correctly predicted the no‐suicide‐history group with 97% accuracy, but only accurately predicted 16% of the patients with a suicide attempt history. A discriminant function analysis correctly predicted 90% of the patients with a suicidal attempt history and 63% of the patients with no history of suicide attempt. Results suggest that MCMI‐III scores may be able to detect patients with a history of suicide attempt, using multivariate statistics.