Symptomatic networks in suicide attempt and reattempt: relevance of psychiatric comorbidity

Abstract

Background. One of the most relevant risk factors for suicide is the presence of previous attempts. The symptomatic profile of people who reattempt suicide deserves attention. Network analysis is a promising tool to study this field. Objective. To analyze the symptomatic network of patients who have attempted suicide recently and compare networks of people with several attempts and people with just one at baseline. Methods. 1043 adult participants from the Spanish cohort “SURVIVE” were part of this study. Participants were classified into two groups: single attempt group (n = 390) and reattempt group (n = 653). Different network analyses were carried out to study the relationships between suicidal ideation, behavior, psychiatric symptoms, diagnoses, childhood trauma, and impulsivity. A general network and one for each subgroup were estimated. Results. People with several suicide attempts at baseline scored significantly higher across all clinical scales. The symptomatic networks were equivalent in both groups of patients (p > .05). Although there were no overall differences between the networks, some nodes were more relevant according to group belonging. Conclusions. People with a history of previous attempts have greater psychiatric symptom severity but the relationships between risk factors show the same structure when compared with the single attempt group. All risk factors deserve attention regardless of the number of attempts, but assessments can be adjusted to better monitor the occurrence of reattempts.