[Study on suicide attempts among drug addicts--prevalence of suicide attempts and investigation of related risk factors].

While the relationship between substance use disorder and suicidal behavior is well known, few studies have been conducted on this issue in Japan to date. The present study aimed to investigate the profiles of drug-dependent individuals with a history of suicide attempts not including completed suicides. A survey was conducted on 101 drug-dependent patients in 8 drug rehabilitation institutions. The survey included a questionnaire that assessed various items regarding personal profiles, such as history of suicide attempts and drug abuse, physical and mental problems. In addition, the survey included the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The results indicated that 50 patients (49.5%) had attempted suicide, and that subjects with a history of suicide attempts were significantly younger than those without suicide attempts. It was also revealed that subjects with a history of suicide attempts had started abusing drugs at an earlier age, had more psychiatric problems, and scored higher on the CES-D and lower on both the parental and maternal care scores of the PBI. These findings suggest that early-age drug abuse, psychiatric problems, depressive symptoms, and parental rearing behaviors perceived as cold and rejecting may predispose drug-dependent individuals to suicidal behavior.