COPING STYLES AND SUICIDE RISK

A total of 30 psychiatric in-patients admitted because of suicidal beh aviour were compared with 30 non-suicidal psychiatric in-patients and 32 healthy controls on measures of suicide risk and coping styles. The three groups were similar with regard to demographic variables, but t he suicidal group scored higher on the suicide risk scale. Suicidal pa tients were significantly less likely to use the coping styles of mini mization and mapping. They were unable to de-emphasize the importance of a perceived problem or source of stress. They also lacked the abili ty to obtain new information required to resolve stressful life events . Four coping styles correlated negatively with the suicide risk (mini mization, replacement, mapping and reversal), while another three (sup pression, blame and substitution) correlated positively. These finding s may have important implications for therapists and primary preventio n workers, and might pave the way towards recognition of the role play ed by coping styles in predicting suicide and its use for cognitive in tervention in these high-risk patients.