Dear Colleagues,

The prevalence of personality disorders (PDs) is approximately 10% worldwide. A combination of genetic factors and difficult life experiences, particularly chilhood maltreatment, contribute to PD development. PDs are associated with a high risk of suicidal behavior (SB) and death by suicide. However, the impact of PDs on SB and SB-related behaviors (e.g., self-harm, suicidal gestures) is underestimated. Indeed, with the remarkable exception of borderline personality disorder (BPD), the role of other PDs has scarcely been studied. For instance, suicide is a clinically significant but underevaluated cause of mortality in narcissistic PD (NPD). Indeed, there are no reliable estimates of SB for this population. Moreover, certain life events (LEs) can precipitate SB in patients with a PD, but the question about specific putative combinations of LEs and PDs increasing suicidal risk remains poorly studied. In addition, PDs distinguish between suicide attempters and completers. Thus, suicide completers and suicide attempters are more likely to be diagnosed with NPD and BPD, respectively. Moreover, schizoid PD is related to medically serious suicide attempts. These findings emphasize the relevance of implementing prevention programs tailored to suicide attempters and completers.

With the advent of the ICD-11, the classification of PDs is no longer categorical but dimensional. With the exception of BPD, all distinct PD categories from ICD-10 are missing. A PD is defined by the severity of the disorder. Indeed, some authors have argued that a PD’s severity might be more useful in estimating suicide risk than the use of specific PD categories. From the perspective of child and adolescent psychiatry, ICD-11 removed the age limit. Accordingly, PDs can be diagnosed across the lifespan, thus offering a new perspective on the relationship between PDs and suicide in adolescents.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide up-to-date information on the relationship between PD and suicide. We are particularly interested in novel and disruptive approaches, such as: 1) the role of a PD in processing and tolerating the mental pain that leads to suicide; 2) the contribution of a PD to the presuicidal syndrome across the lifespan, but particularly during life-cycle transitions (adolescence, middle age, or elderly age); and 3) novel tools (e.g., big data, data mining, artificial intelligence) applied to novel sources of information (e.g., social media) to disentangle the relationship bertween PD and suicide in the 21st century.

Dr. Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla
Guest Editor

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• personality traits
• personality disorders
• self-harm
• non-suicidal self injury (NSSI)
• suicidal behavior (SB)
• suicide attempts (SA)
• suicide gestures
• parasuicide
• suicide
• mental pain