Characteristics of suicide victims who had verbally communicated suicidal feelings to their family members.

BACKGROUND Verbal expression of suicidal feelings has rarely been investigated in the literature, particularly regarding individuals who died by suicide. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We retrospectively collected data on the suicide cases of the period November 2007-October 2009 from the Athens Greater Area and completed psychological autopsy questionnaires after phone interviews with their family members. The specific question was: "Has your relative expressed to you his/her deep suffering or the intention to end his/her life at any time during the six months prior to the suicide?" RESULTS Data were collected for 248 individuals who died by suicide out of a total of 335. 121 of them (48.8%) had verbally communicated their intention to die -or their profound suffering- to their family members. Suicide communicators were older (p<0.001), less educated (p=0.04), more frequently divorced or separated and less often single (p<0.01) than non-communicators. They had more often positive psychiatric history (p=0.004) and were less physically well (p=0.005), in comparison to non-communicators. Differences regarding sex, nationality, previous attempts, suicide note-leaving, completed suicide method and hospitalization either for physical illness or psychiatric disorder the year prior to the suicide were not statistically significant among the two groups. Considered that we interviewed only one relative for every case, the actual number of suicide communicators would be probably higher; the suicidal feelings could have been disclosed to another relative instead. CONCLUSIONS This is the first time that a similar study was carried out in Greece. We found that approximately half of the individuals who died by suicide in our sample had been (verbal) suicide communicators. The latter seem to present distinct characteristics. These findings, coupled with the observation that the relatives are keen observers of the suicidal feelings of their loved ones, could provide new insights to future suicide prevention efforts.