Suicidality and Sleep Disturbances

Nov 5, 2005Sleep

Links Between Suicidal Thoughts and Sleep Problems

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

In a sample of 176 outpatients, nightmare symptoms were significantly associated with suicidality after controlling for depressive symptoms and sex.

Insomnia and nightmare symptoms were both linked to depressive symptoms and suicidality.
Sleep-related breathing symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms but not with suicidal ideation.
After accounting for depressive symptoms, only nightmares remained linked to suicidal ideation, showing a nonsignificant trend (P = .06).
The association between nightmares and suicidality was particularly stronger among women compared to men.
Posthoc analyses indicated a significant relationship between nightmare symptoms and suicidality after controlling for sex and depression (P = .04).

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STUDY OBJECTIVES: A growing body of research indicates that sleep disturbances may be specifically linked to suicidal behaviors. It remains unclear, however, whether this link is largely explained by depressive symptoms. The present study investigated the relationship between suicidality, depression, and sleep complaints in a clinical outpatient setting.

DESIGN AND SETTING: Upon admission, 176 outpatients completed measures on sleep disturbances, suicidal symptoms, and depression. Several sleep disturbances were evaluated with regard to suicidal ideation, including insomnia, nightmares, and sleep-related breathing symptoms.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed that insomnia and nightmare symptoms were associated with both depressive symptoms and suicidality. Sleep-related breathing symptoms were associated with depressive symptoms, but did not show an association with suicidal ideation. After controlling for depressive symptoms, only nightmares demonstrated an association with suicidal ideation. This relationship emerged as a nonsignificant trend (P = .06). Nightmares were particularly associated with suicidality among women compared with men. Posthoc analyses revealed that, after controlling for sex and depressive symptoms, nightmare symptoms were significantly associated with suicidality (P = .04).

CONCLUSIONS: Although insomnia and nightmares were significantly associated with depressive and suicidal symptoms, after controlling for additional variables, such as depression and sex, only nightmares remained associated with suicidality. This association was slightly stronger among women compared with men.

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Suicidality and Sleep Disturbances

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