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Category: Project

Description: Research suggests that implicit identification with death/suicide can accurately predict suicide attempt several months in advance (Nock et al., 2010). We report here the first direct and independent replication of this promising finding. Participants were 165 patients seeking treatment at an emergency psychiatric department of a hospital in France. At baseline, patients completed the Suicide-Implicit Association Test (S-IAT), a semi-structured interview, and a self-report measure of suicide ideation. Six months later, we contacted patients by phone and examined their hospital medical records to determine if they made a new suicide attempt. Results showed that the S-IAT did not discriminate patients who presented for suicide attempts (vs. other reasons). As in the original study, however, the S-IAT predicted suicide attempts within the 6-month follow-up period over and beyond well-known predictors. The test correctly classified 85% of patients, confirming its diagnostic value for identifying who will make a future suicide attempt.