Comparing the Relationship between Focus of Attention and Attention Bias in Suicide and Non-suicide Attempters

Objective: Suicide rate is unfortunately increasing in recent years and its assessment is a must. Most studies have evaluated different factors like personality, depression, or environment in suicide attempters but cognitive functions have been overlooked in suicide attempters. The current research aimed to evaluate a kind of cognitive function, namely attention in survivors of suicide.  Methods: This case-control study was conducted in Tehran, Iran in 2015. Two groups of patients one with recent suicide attempts and the other one with no suicide attempt were compared in domains of focus of attention and attention bias. A total of 18 patients participated in each group. Instruments used for this research included questionnaire of focus of attention and simple stroop test software. Correlation of these 2 instruments was compared between groups. Data were analyzed by the independent t-test, ANOVA, and the Pearson correlation.  Results: Mean age of suicide attempters was 29.5 years which was significantly lower than that in the control group and most of them were women. They spent more time in recognizing incongruent stimulus, congruent, and incongruent response. The time that was spent on experiment of incongruent stimulus, congruent, and incongruent response was significantly higher in suicide attempters. In suicide attempters, there was a significant correlation between number of congruent and incongruent errors with focus of attention. Conclusion: Our results showed that attention as a cognitive function may be impaired in suicide attempters. Thus, it is necessary to recognize cognitive functions of suicide attempters along with other comorbid psychological factors for preventing future suicide attempts and eventually losing precious lives.