Depression, anxiety, and psychological defense in attempted suicide: A pilot study using PORT

Abstract

Depressive affect, anxiety, and psychological defenses were studied in the presented research with PORT, a projective test that exploits subliminal perception of object-relation images. Protocols of 20 hospitalised suicide attempters were compared to those of 20 matched controls, 34 previously studied nonsuicidal depressed patients, 18 patients with panic attack, and 32 patients with borderline and psychotic disorders. The suicide attempters were anxious; their defenses resembled those seen in borderline pathology; depressive reactions were limited in symbolic content; reality testing was poor. The closeness between depression and anxiety in suicidality is further discussed throughout this article. A constellation of signs using the PORT test was hypothesized to be a marker for suicidality. The test is deemed useful for future research on suicide. Copyright © International Academy for Suicide Research.