Leo Sher, M.D.

The article, “Temperaments mediate suicide risk and psychopathology among patients with bipolar disorders” by Maurizio Pompili, Zoltan Rihmer, Hagop Akiskal and their associates has attracted my attention. The authors studied a large group of patients with bipolar disorders. They showed that certain personality features predicted both suicide risk and psychopathology. Among other observations, the authors found that affective temperaments were significantly associated with hopelessness. Studies of the relation between temperaments and suicidality may lead to an improvement in suicide prevention. To read the abstract of the research report, “Temperaments mediate suicide risk and psychopathology among patients with bipolar disorders” please, click here.