Hostility, hopelessness and deliberate self-harm: a prospective follow-up study.

Sixty-one consecutive patients who presented following an episode of deliberate self-harm (DSH) were assessed on a number of variables, including measures of hopelessness and hostility. Attempts were made to follow all of the patients. Those who were known to have had a further episode of DSH had significantly higher levels of hopelessness and intropunitive hostility after the index episode than those who did not repeat. The question of vulnerability to DSH is discussed as well as the possibility of using measures of hopelessness and intropunitive hostility to identify those at greater risk of repetition.