PERSONALITY AND SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENCE

This paper will concentrate on the personal factors involved in suicidality beyond psychopathology. The Hypotheses are based on the authors work with suicida; adolescents in there different setting. 1. Psychological postmotem studies of adolescent (aged 28-21) who killed themselves while doing their compulsory military service in Israel Defence Force. 2. Clinical work with suicidal adolescents on adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit. 3. Work in the emergency room of a large general hospital as part of an epidemiological study of Para Suicide. Our hypothesis is that there are three sets of personality constellations that may underlie suicidality. 1. Impulsive and aggressive characteristics combined with an over sensitivity to minor life events. 2. Narcissis,, perfectionism and the inability to tolerate failure and imprefection, combined with an underlying schizoid personality strcture. 3. Hopelessness that related to an underlysing depression. The present article will deal only with the first two constellations. Concerning those two constellations It seems that there may be two types of suicidal behavior: the first one is related to defects in impulse control similar to those seen in the borderline personality organization as described by Kernberg (1975) and may be related to defects in serotonin metabolism (Apter et al. 1990). The second one characterized by narcrissistic injury and combined with socially oriented perfectionism increases the vulnerability for preceived failure. When this is combined with schizoid features, resulting in low ability to self disclose, the person is not able to ask for help and thus might well find himself in an undearable situatuion.