Characteristics of alcoholics who attempted suicide: co-occurring disorders and personality differences with a sample of male Vietnam era veterans.

Data from the Vietnam Experience Study were used to examine differences among alcoholic suicide attempters and alcoholic nonattempters with regard to co-occurring psychiatric disorders and MMPI scale scores. Comparisons between the 83 alcoholic suicide attempters and the remaining 978 alcoholic nonattempters indicated that suicide attempters had significantly higher rates of co-occurring disorders as well as an MMPI-based personality pattern characterized by higher levels of pathology. A discriminant function analysis yielded an overall classification accuracy of 74.08%, with significant MMPI scale scores suggestive of personality differences in impulsivity, destructiveness and assaultiveness (especially code 4-9-6). Suicide attempts may be a manifestation of self-destructive behavior that typifies a subset of alcoholics with pervasive difficulties.