HOPELESSNESS, DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL IDEATION, AND CLINICAL-DIAGNOSIS OF DEPRESSION

The relevance of a clinical diagnosis of depression for explaining the discrepant relationships of hopelessness and depression with suicidal ideation was studied. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Hopelessne ss Scale (BHS), and the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) were administ ered to 1,306 (72.8%) patients with at least one DSM-III-R mood disord er and 488 (27.3%) patients without any mood disorders. A multiple reg ression analysis was conducted, and hopelessness was 1.3 times more im portant than depression was for explaining suicidal ideation. The inte ractions of the BDI and BHS with diagnostic group were not significant .