Perfectionism and Suicide: A systematic review of qualitative studies.

Abstract

Introduction: There is a growing in te rest in the possible association between perfectionism and suicide. Smith and colleagues (2018) gave an up-to-date overview on this topic in a meta-analysis including quantitative studies and found that perfectionism disp la yed positive associations with suicide ideation and attempts. The current article's purpose was to conduct a systematic review on this topic, focusing on studies with qualitative research method.

Method: A systematic literature search was conducted on four databases (PsychInfo, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science) with the following keywords: (*perfectionism or self-criticism) and (suicide* or suicidality*). Inclusion criteria were: peer-reviewed journals and publications written in Eng lish and qualitative methodology. Exclusion criteria were the absence of empirical data.

Results: Altogether eight articles were identified, which met the inclusion criteria. All studies found strong correlation between perfectionism and suicidal behaviour. We also differentiated the studies using clinical or community sample and found the same, that perfectionism strongly connects to suicidal behaviour in both groups.

Discussion: This review of studies using qualitative research method supports those previous studies with quantitative method, which suggest that perfectionism can play an important role in suicidal behaviour.