The Meta-Contrast Technique: a projective test predicting suicide

Sixty-nine inpatients who had attempted suicide were studied by means of the Meta-Contrast Technique (MCT), a projective test measuring personality factors, especially defensive strategies. The patients were divided into 3 subgroups, one of which was defined as stereotypy only, which denotes stereotypy (perceptual retardation) without any other coded defenses. At follow-up 7 of 8 completed suicides belonged to this subgroup and they matched various main diagnoses according to DSM-III-R. When the MCT findings of all patients were compared with 99 depressed inpatients from a previous study, the latter group more often had mature defensive strategies. In both investigations most completed suicides were found in the stereotypy only group. Our findings indicate that, regardless of psychiatric diagnosis, stereotypy without other defenses in MCT predicts suicide.