Abstract

Paranoia and suicidality seem to be common traits expressing in the general population to varying degrees. This study aims to explore the association between both and to identify determinants of comorbidity. We interviewed a representative sample of the population in Andalusia (n = 4507) and assessed paranoia and suicidality utilizing the Spanish Green’s Paranoid Thoughts Scale (S-GPTS) and the suicidality section of the MINI Neuropsychiatric Interview, respectively. We gathered data on socio-demographics, personality, substance abuse, social support, and environmental distress. We found that paranoia and suicidality were rather common with 6.4% (95% CI: 5.7–7.12) of the sample admitting to some (vs. none) level of suicidality. We also found a robust association between paranoia and suicidality, independent of age and sex (F:298.2; p =.0001; Eta2: .065); 0.5% (95% CI: 0.32–0.76) of the sample (n = 21) presented combinedly high levels of paranoia and some suicidality risk and were considered as having paranoia-suicidality comorbidity (PSC). We identified factors associating with PSC, including poor social support, childhood maltreatment, threatening life-events and increasing personality disorder, and nicotine dependence scores. Paranoia and suicidality are common traits in the general population and their comorbidity seems to associate with low social support, environmental adversity and disordered personality. Suicidality and paranoia are common traits present dimensionally in a representative nonclinical sample. Paranoia strongly and independently associates with suicidality risk in a large population-based study. Paranoia and suicidality comorbidity may be commonly determined by poor social support, disordered personality, previous childhood maltreatment, and exposure to threatening life-events.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

AUTHOR NOTES

Carmen M. Carrillo de Albornoz, Department of Psychiatry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain. Blanca Gutiérrez, Department of Psychiatry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, Biomedical Research Centre (CIBM), University of Granada, Granada, Spain.

Inmaculada Ibanez-Casas State University of New York at Plattsburgh, NY, USA.

Jorge A. Cervilla Department of Psychiatry, University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Institute of Neuroscience, Biomedical Research Centre (CIBM), University of Granada, Granada, Spain; Mental Health Unit, “Clínico San Cecilio” University Hospital, Granada, Spain.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Economy, Innovation and Science of the Regional Government of Andalusia [Grant # 10-CTS-6682] and by The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, [Project # ISCIII PI18/00467]. We also thank FEDER/Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento for their support with grant no. B-CTS-361-UGR18

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 344.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.