Identifying patients’ risk of reacting with suicidal ideation (SI) to psychotherapy is an important clinical problem that calls for empirical verification.

Analysis of associations between patients’ initial neurotic personality dysfunctions not accompanied by SI and emergence of SI at the end of a course of intensive psychotherapy conducted in integrative approach with predominance of psychodynamic approach in a day hospital.

Neurotic Personality Questionnaire KON-2006 and Life Inventory were completed by 680 patients at the time of admission to a psychotherapeutic day hospital due to neurotic, behavioral or personality disorders. Symptom Checklist KO “O” as a source of information about emergence of SI was completed both at the admission and at the end of the treatment. Among 466 patients without SI at the admission, in 4% SI occurred at the end of the treatment.

A number of neurotic personality dysfunctions (demeanors declared) that significantly predisposed to SI emergence at the end of the treatment were found: physical aggression against close ones (P < 0.001), grandiose fantasies (P = 0.043), tendencies to resignation (P = 0.022) and resignation-related feeling of loss of life opportunities (P = 0.037), tendency to follow predominantly ones intuition (P = 0.035).

In patients who declared the above-mentioned demeanors increased risk of SI emergence than in others (10–30% vs. 4%) indicate that there are particular vulnerable areas of neurotic personality that require especially careful approach during intensive psychotherapy–dealing with those areas may result in distress or anxiety that may lead to SI.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.