Inward and outward irritability in the suicidally inclined.

A questionnaire to measure inward irritability and outward irritability was given to college students. Inward irritability scores correlated .27 with outward irritability scores. Those students who had attempted suicide had high inward irritability scores; those who had threatened suicide had high inward and outward irritability scores. Results supported the proposition that some suicidal people may have higher levels of outwardly directed anger than nonsuicidal people.