My Reasons for Living: A Descriptive Study of the Motives for Not Committing Suicide Among Patients Diagnosed With Schizophrenia.

Background and objective Reasons for Living (RFL) constitute a construct that enables identifying the reasons for not committing suicide. These reasons are based on significant aspects of life, on the commitment to some ideals which may inhibit the impulse of committing suicide. The present study aimed to explore the RFL in a sample of patients with chronic schizophrenia; analyze the association of RFL with the duration of illness, previous suicide attempts, hospitalizations, and schooling; and describe the potential differences between male and female patients in this context. Materials and methods A total of 94 patients with schizophrenia were assessed. The Reasons for Living Inventory (RFLI) was applied and a structured interview for clinical and sociodemographic data was performed to gather data. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were calculated, and Spearman's correlation analysis was employed. Results The mean score among the sample was 3.9, with 3.8 as the cut-off point under which the presence of suicide risk is significant. The RFLs indicated as most important by patients were those in the domains of Survival and Coping Beliefs and Responsibility to Family. Non-significant differences were observed between groups. An association was observed in terms of age, duration of illness, number of hospitalizations, and RFLI scores. Conclusions The sample in the present study obtained high scores in the RFL domain of Survival and Coping Beliefs and low scores in the domain of Fear of Suicide, reflecting a specific response pattern that contrasts with other high suicidal-risk populations. We suggest that this construct could represent a protective factor for schizophrenia patients, including chronic patients with previous suicide attempts and high hospitalization rates, which were common variables observed in our clinical sample.
Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Comité de Ética en investigación del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz issued approval CEI/C/004/2019. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Mauricio Rosel Vales declare(s) Other from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck. Has been on advisory boards and has received speaker fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck. Ricardo Saracco Alvarez declare(s) other from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag, Elli Lilly, Armstrong, Aztra Zeneca and Lundbeck. Has been on advisory boards and has received speaker fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag, Elli Lilly, Armstrong, Aztra Zeneca and Lundbeck. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
(Copyright © 2024, Flores Medina et al.)