Depression in Self-Harm Patients

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
DSM-III diagnoses and responses to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were examined in 71 consecutive admissions to an inpatient psychiatric crisis service following deliberate self-harm. Although 80% of the admitted patients were moderately or severely depressed according to BDI scores, only 31 % were diagnosed with a major depressive episode. While all of the self-harm patients may be viewed as experiencing severe subjective distress, only a minority were shown to suffer from DSM-III depressive illness. The high depression scores on the BDI may be related to the patients' extreme distress preceding a crisis admission and to the high prevalence of personality disorders in this group of patients.

This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit: