Risky And Impulsive Behavior Could Indicate Suicidal Tendencies In The Depressed: Study

A new study presented on Saturday has highlighted the importance for identifying impulsive and risky behavior in depressed people as such acts could indicate a higher risk of suicide.

According to Health Day, the study found that depressed people who drive recklessly, are agitated, nervous and show sudden promiscuity are at least 50 percent more likely to attempt suicide than those who do not show such behavior. The study also showed those at risk of suicide experience mixed states of highs and lows, akin to bipolar disorder.

"We found that 'depressive mixed states' often preceded suicide attempts. A depressive mixed state is where a patient is depressed, but also has symptoms of 'excitation', or mania. We found this significantly more in patients who had previously attempted suicide, than those who had not. In fact 40% of all the depressed patients who attempted suicide had a "mixed episode" rather than just depression. All the patients who suffer from mixed depression are at much higher risk of suicide," said study author Dr. Dina Popovic in a press release.

Researchers studied 2,811 patients of which 628 had attempted suicide at least once. They found that standard methods of determining which persons are at higher risk of attempting suicide had a 12 percent success rate while the new methods proposed in the study could determine 40 percent of such cases. Risky behavior, psychomotor agitation and impulsivity are three symptoms that researchers suggested clinicians should look for.

The study's findings were presented at European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) annual meeting in Amsterdam.