Suicide and violence risk. I. Relationship to coping styles.

Thirty suicidal psychiatric inpatients were compared with 30 nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients. A battery of self-report tests was administered measuring suicide risk, violence risk and coping styles. The suicidal patients scored higher on both the suicide risk and violence risk. They also used almost all coping styles less frequently than the nonsuicidal patients. Among suicidal patients, suicide risk was negatively correlated with the coping styles of minimization, replacement and blame. Further, suicide risk and violence risk in suicidal patients were shown to be predicted by coping styles. These data indicate that suicidal patients have inadequate mental resources to deal with life problems. Besides their significance for assessing suicide risk, the findings may have possible clinical implications for case detection and early intervention with potential preventive value.