Cognitive biases and suicidal ideation in elderly psychiatric inpatients

Cognitive factors such as perceptions of poor health and negative expectancies toward the future may mediate relationships between health variables, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation. In this study of risk factors associated with late life suicidal ideation, thirty older psychiatric inpatients were interviewed using standardized instruments. Self-reported symptoms of hopelessness, perceived health, and depression, as well as number of impaired medical illness systems were examined in relation to presence of suicidal thoughts. Several aspects of a cognitive model of suicide were supported using partial correlation and regression analyses. First, patients who were more depressed and suicidal had more negative cognitions than those who were less depressed and not suicidal. Second, depressive symptoms were strongly related to suicidal thoughts even after controlling for the patients' number of impaired illness systems. Third, cognitive factors versus health factors were shown to influence the relationship between depression and suicidal ideation. These findings emphasize the importance of cognitive biases in geriatric suicidal ideation.