Eating disorders increase the risk of
suicide ideation by increasing depression and enhancing aggressiveness.
Symptoms
of depression and aggressiveness are important antecedents and correlates of
suicide ideation and completion in adolescents and adults. Among adolescents,
eating disorder symptoms were also found to associate with suicidal behavior.
In a
recent study carried out by Dr Antonio Preti and Dr Paola Miotto, head of the
Eating Disorders Unit of the ULSS7 Ð Conegliano (Italy), data from the Conegliano
Eating Disorders Survey, an investigation aimed at ascertaining the prevalence and
characteristics of eating disorder symptoms among Italian adolescents, were
used to investigate the role of depression and aggressiveness in the links
between eating disorder symptoms and suicide ideation.
In this
study, involving a mixed male-female sample of 930 adolescents, eating disorder
symptoms were positively related to suicide ideation, taking age and sex into
account. However, depression and aggressiveness acted as full mediators in the
links between eating disorder symptoms and suicide ideation.
In
people with eating disorder symptoms, therefore, suicide ideation can be
conceived as raised by concurrent depression and aggressiveness, both being a
possible consequence of unhealthy eating habits.
Authors suggest that people genetically vulnerable to
develop symptoms of depression and hostile feelings could progress from
unhealthy eating habits to more severe psychopathologies more easily, with a
concurrent increase in suicide ideation and the associated self-injury
behavior.
The results of this study, concluded Drs Miotto and Preti, point out that the investigation on suicidal tendencies in young people clearly need to include measures of eating disorders: their early identification and correction might prevent the worst outcomes of minor psychological distress.
Reference:
Paola Miotto, Antonio Preti
Eating disorders and suicide
ideation: the mediating role of depression and aggressiveness.
Comprehensive Psychiatry,
2007; 48: 218-224.
Contacts:
Dr Antonio Preti
SchizophreniaProject
e-mail: apreti@tin.it