DELUSIONAL DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE

During the 12-year period of retrospective observation, 38 cases of 93 major depressive inpatients were delusional and the remainders were n ondelusional. We evaluated the differences on several variables, espec ially about suicide, between the two groups. The mean age at the onset of illness of delusional depressive patients was higher than that of nondelusional ones. The incidence of psychomotor retardation was lower in the former group than in the latter. The frequency of suicidal ide ation and suicidal attempts were higher in the former group than the l atter. The suicidal methods in the delusional depressives tended to be more active and violent than those in nondelusional depressives and w ere supposed to have a twofold mortality than those in the nondelusion al ones. We discussed this high rate of suicides of delusional depress ion from the viewpoint of disinhibition of psychomotor retardation, ch ronicity, partial affinity of delusional depressives to schizophrenics and neuroendocrinological perspective.