Assessing Suicide Risk in Cluster C Personality Disorders

The aim of the study was to assess suicide risk in psychiatric outpatients with specific cluster C personality disorders (avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive). A sample of 142 psychiatric outpatients was used for the study. The sample was composed of 87 outpatients meeting diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder and 53 psychiatric outpatients meeting criteria for an axis I disorder only. The results showed that dependent, but not avoidant or obsessive-compulsive, personality disorders, as well as the clusters A and B personality disorders, were significantly associated with suicide attempts. This association remained significant after controlling for both a lifetime depressive disorder and severity of depression for the cluster A and the cluster B personality disorders, but not for dependent personality disorder. The results underline the importance of assessing suicide risk in patients with cluster A and cluster B personality disorders, while the assessment of suicide risk in patients with cluster C personality disorders seems to be irrelevant as long as assessment of a comorbid depressive disorder is appropriately conducted.