The British Journal of Psychiatry 130: 253-259 (1977)
© 1977 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Seriousness of suicide attempt in relation to personality
DJ Pallis and J Birtchnell
From a sample of psychiatric referrals who had completed the MMPI the
following three groups, matched for age and sex, were derived: 42 patients
with a history of a serious suicide attempt, 42 patients with a history of
a non-serious attempt, and 126 patients who had neither attempted nor
contemplated suicide. Non-serious suicide attempters were shown to be the
most deviant group and differed to a significant extent from each of the
other two groups on the Dependency, Hostility and Unconventionality scales.
Male non-serious attempters showed the most disturbed personality profile.
This implies that there is, for males, a higher personality threshold for
making a non-serious attempt, which may account for the fact that suicide
attempts, most of which are non- serious, are commoner among females.
