Hirsch Jameson K, Duberstein Paul R, Conner Kenneth R, Heisel Marnin J, Beckman Anthony, Franus Nathan, Conwell Yeates
Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2007;24(3):196-201. doi: 10.1002/da.20224.
Functional impairment might amplify suicide risk in later life. A positive view of the future may reduce this risk. We tested the hypothesis that hopelessness and positive future orientation moderate the association between functional status and suicide ideation in a sample of 136 patients, 55 years of age or older, in treatment for depression. Future orientation moderated the association between functional status and suicide ideation; hopelessness did not. Although prospective research is needed to test more rigorously the hypothesized protective role of positive future orientation, our data suggest that treatments designed to enhance future orientation might decrease suicide risk.
