Psychoanalysis.  2022 Jul;33(3):45-55. 10.18529/psychoanal.2022.33.3.45.

Transdiagnostic Network Analysis Between Suicide Attempt and Personality, Defense Mechanism Factors in Neurotic Patients

• Jeong HM
• Yun SH
• Jo SH
• Kim HG
• Cheon EJ
• Koo BH

• KMID: 2532254
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.18529/psychoanal.2022.33.3.45

Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this study is to investigate the complex relationship between personality characteristics, psychological characteristics, defense mechanisms, and suicide attempts in neurotic patients with frequent suicide attempts, such as depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, somatic symptom disorders, stress, and trauma-related disorder through transdiagnostic network analysis.
Methods
This study included 1430 neurotic patients diagnosed with depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, somatic symptom disorders, stress, and trauma-related disorder who consented to take part in this study. They were tested according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition-text revision (DSM-TR) and DSM-5. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ), and Personality Disorder Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) were used to view psychological characteristics within the group.
Results
The most relevant edges between nodes were the edges between the hypochondriasis (Hs) and the hysteria (Hy). And the edge between the psychasthenia (Pt) and the schizophrenia (Sc) showed a relatively higher weight than other edges. An edge with a positive correlation between suicide attempts and somatization, antisocial personality disorder, and Sc on the network was constructed, and an edge with a negative correlation with an adaptive defense type was formed.
Conclusion
Neurotic patients who fail to use appropriate defense mechanisms in stressful situations and cannot resolve their instabilities using immature defense mechanisms such as somatization attempt suicide. When those instabilities deepen and the symptoms become severe enough to be close to psychotic tendencies, or when the intrinsically impulsive antisocial personality patterns are prominent, tendencies expressed as suicide attempt increases.

Keyword

Suicide attempt; Network analysis; Transdiagnostic; Defense mechanisms