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In this work we suggest the potential clinical utility of the Wartegg Test, on the pathway of patients attempting suicide. The Wartegg test is a projective procedure composed of eight panels with eight semi-structured stimulus-signs.The exploration of the projective dynamics seems to play an important role in gaining further in knowledge of psychopathological issues, which is the reason why a projective test administered as a simple and fast Wartegg test was chosen. The study comparatively analyzes the differences in the responses given to each test panel, drawn by subjects who attempted suicide, both with and without psychiatric disorders, and by a further group of depressed patients having no history of suicide attempts. The study was also aimed at carrying out an initial exploration of the Wartegg method as source indicators of suicidal risk. The survey sample consists of three groups registered as Attempted Suicide (AS= No. 25), Depression (D = No.29), Control (C = No.29). Groups AS and D consist of patients diagnosed and treated at the Day Hospital Service of the Gemelli Hospital. The control group consists of students of the Gemelli Hospital and other subjects who never received any kind of treatment. In conclusion, our work confirms the importance of the depressive component in suicide attempts, indicating a failure to differentiate between the results obtained by the group of patients who attempted suicide and the group of depressed patients. Significant differences appear to be more relevant for what concerns the control group. In t his comparison, the suicide attempt seems connected to the emergence of a conflict in feelings.
Key Words: Attempted Suicide, depression, personality, Wartegg Test
Attempted suicide is a phenomenon of wide social significance, whose frequency varies according to age and cultural background. The psychological and social variables which may be taken as risk factors are many. Suicidal ideation or behaviours may appear in various forms in many psychiatric disorders, but suicide is more frequently associated with mood disorders, especially in cases of major depression. The hinge symptoms of its ideation are loss of hope and despair, e.g. often detectable in depression, or a lowering of the inhibition threshold in front of action, e.g. a common symptom in alcohol abuse. Each year suicide causes 1.5% of the 54...