Suicidal ideation, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression in traumatic spinal cord injury: What resilience tells us

Abstract

Objective:

Identification of unmet psychiatric needs, protective and risk factors for suicide are crucial for people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). In this study, we aimed to explore depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) status (non-PTSD, partial-PTSD, full-PTSD), resilience, suicidal ideation (SI) and to examine predictors and clinical correlates of current SI in traumatic SCI.

Method:

Sixty-three individuals with traumatic SCI who were at least 3 months post-injury were included in the study. The participants were evaluated in terms of PTSD Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (PCL-5), depression, SI, and resilience using the PCL-5, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Brief Resilience Scale, and sociodemographic measures.

Results:

33% of our sample (n = 21) had SI over the past two weeks. 71.4% of the patients with SI (n = 15) had depression. A total of 52.4% of the patients with SI (n = 11) were diagnosed with full PTSD. Resilience was found to be significantly lower in individuals with depression and individuals with SI. While depression predicted SI in traumatic SCI, resilience stands as a protective factor against SI.

Conclusion:

SI is quite common in individuals with traumatic SCI and is accompanied by substantial psychiatric comorbidities such as depression and PTSD. Along with depression and PTSD, resilience – which has protective and predictive values and is inversely associated with SI – constitutes a significant psychotherapeutic intervention and screening area.

Keywords:

• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Partial PTSD
• Resilience
• Suicidal ideation
• Traumatic spinal cord injury
• Rehabilitation

Disclaimer statements

Contributors None.

Conflicts of interest Authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

None.