The use of the MMPI for the differentiation of suicidal and non-suicidal depressions.

The MMPI profiles of forty suicidal and forty non-suicidal male and female depressed patients, matched for age, were compared. Significant differences between MMPI scale T scores which showed some sex specificity were found between the suicidal and non-suicidal depressives. These results replicate previous findings. However neither individual scale T scores, derived discriminant functions, nor actuarial or cluster analysis-derived MMPI profiles could completely discriminate between suicidal and non-suicidal depressed inpatients of either sex. The relevance and implications of these findings to the ascertainment of suicidal risk are discussed.