THE MARKE-NYMAN TEMPERAMENT (MNT) SCALE IN SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

A total of 89 suicide attempters were diagnosed according to the DSM-I II-R, and categorized according to suicide method as 'violent' and 'no n-violent' attempters, and also as those who had made previous suicide attempts ('repeaters') and those who had not ('non-repeaters'). All o f the subjects completed the MNT questionnaire. Our hypothesis was tha t the temperament patterns would reflect specific clinical characteris tics, such as psychiatric diagnoses and type of suicidal behaviour. Th e 'validity' (ranging from fatiguableness to a high level of psychic e nergy) showed a bimodal distribution, suggesting the existence of two subgroups. The subjects with adjustment disorders displayed a signific antly higher mean validity than the other patients. The lowest validit y scores were found in subjects with bipolar depression. Men showed si gnificantly higher 'stability' (reflecting emotional distance from oth ers) than women. Subjects with major depression and those who were 'vi olent' suicide attempters showed somewhat higher 'solidity' (unchangea bility, non-impulsiveness) compared with the other groups. Female 'non -repeaters' displayed significantly lower solidity than males or other females. In general, no clear temperament patterns were detected in p atients categorized according to type of suicidal behaviour. In contra st to the findings of studies of normal populations, the intercorrelat ions between the dimensions were considerable, especially among the me n. This prompted us to perform a cluster analysis procedure in which t he subjects were allocated to five clusters according to the MNT dimen sions. No distinct clinical characteristics appeared in these clusters , except in the cluster with the highest validity and the lowest stabi lity, as 54% (P = 0.014) of the patients in this cluster had an adjust ment disorder diagnosis. These temperament results reflect the clinica l heterogeneity of patients who attempt suicide.