ABSTRACT
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 1.5 percent of all deaths in the Western world. This chapter aims to review the past and current literature on the long-known link between aggression, impulsivity, and suicide. In the psychological and psychiatric literature aggression is defined as any behavior intended to harm another person who is motivated to avoid being harmed. Impulsivity is an ill-defined concept encompassing a broad range of behaviors that reflect impaired self-regulation. Anger, aggression, and impulsivity are associated with suicide attempts. The correlation between aggression and suicidality has been studied across psychiatric samples, and non-psychiatric populations. Nevertheless the literature is confusing and contradictory and not easy to organize in a coherent manner. Since aggression and impulsivity are so ubiquitous in suicidal behaviors and so obvious a target for intervention, this area of enquiry must be pursued despite all the inherent difficulties involved in such an endeavor.
