“Reasons for living” in patients with schizophrenia.

Abstract Reasons for Living (RFL) are a construct allows identifying the reasons for not committing suicide. These reasons are based on significant aspects of life, on the commitment to some ideals which may inhibit the impulse of committing suicide. The present study aims to describe the RFL in a sample of chronic schizophrenia patients. Explore if RFLs are different among male and female patients and the possible relation with clinical the variables: duration of illness, suicide attempts and hospitalizations. Method: Seventy patients with schizophrenia were assessed. The application of Reasons for Living Inventory (RFLI) and the structured interview for clinical and socio-demographic data was performed by a Psychology master’s degree research assistants and the lead investigator. Results: The sample mean score was 3.8/ 3.8 cut-off point under which the presence of suicide risk is significant. Patients indicated as most important RFLs those included in the Survival and coping beliefs and Responsibility to family domains. Non-significant differences between groups were observed. No association was found between clinical data and RFLI scores. Conclusion: Considering that the sample of the present study obtained high scores in Survival and coping beliefs and low scores in Fear of suicide as RFLs, thus reflecting an opposite response pattern to other high suicidal risk populations. We suggest that this construct could represent a protective factor for schizophrenia patients, including chronic patients with previous suicide attempts and high hospitalization rates, which were common variables, observed in clinical sample.