Decision characteristics in adolescents with mood disorders and suicide attempts / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objectives:To analyze the performance and characteristics of adolescent suicide attempters in dif-ferent dimensions of decision making,a computational model was used in this study.Methods:A total of 70 adoles-cent suicide attempters with mood disorders meeting the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Re-lated Health Problems,Tenth Revision(ICD-10)diagnosis,40 non-suicide attempters with mood disorder,and 49 normal controls were included.By using the MCQ and IGT and through computational model analysis,the adoles-cent suicide attempters'performance and underlying cognitive components in impulsive decision making and value-and learning-based decision making were analyzed.Results:The overall delay discounting rates showed no signifi-cant differences(P＞0.05)among the group of suicide attempters,patient controls,and normal controls in the MCQ.This rate was significantly higher in suicide attempters and non-suicide attempters than in normal controls(P＜0.05);there was no significant difference between the three groups of subjects'decision making performance in the IGT(P＞0.05).Computational model analysis revealed that compared to non-suicide attempters and normal controls,suicide attempters showed reduced sensitivity to the outcome as well as reduced exploratory behavior(Pa-rameter estimate with non-overlapping 80％HDI).Conclusion:Adolescent suicide attempters may not be able to learn from the outcome of the decision and explore more possible options to resolve the crisis,as well as impulsive decision-making impairment may be associated with depressed states rather than suicide attempts.