Suicide and attempted suicide in general practice, 1979?1986

Attempted suicide has been described as the prime emergency of general practice. Although this may represent a slightly exaggerated claim, the present writers have certainly found attempted suicide to be a frequent reason for the referral of patients to the psychiatric department of a general hospital. The expression “attempted suicide” is usually taken to refer to an unsuccessful attempt to kill oneself: yet such a description is often somewhat inappropriate to describe a dramatic episode of behaviour, during which an assault upon the self occurs as the result of a mood of despair or rage. Death may not be consciously sought and it is more satisfactory to define attempted suicide as a non-fatal act of self-damage.

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Attempted Suicide in Christchurch: A Controlled Study

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.3109/00048678009159396 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 305-314 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

K. S. Adam ◽

A. Bouckoms ◽

G. Scarr

Keyword(s):

General Practice ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Clinical Management ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Controlled Study ◽

Psychiatric Disturbance ◽

The Family

The results of a comparison of a sample of consecutive admissions for attempted suicide to matched patients from a general practice are presented. Significant differences were found in the degree of social and psychiatric disturbance, the quality of current interpersonal relationships, and the family backgrounds of the two groups. The implications of these findings for the clinical management of attempted suicide patients are discussed.

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An Epidemiological Survey of Parasuicide (‘Attempted Suicide’) in General Practice

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.123.1.23 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 123 (572) ◽

pp. 23-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Peter Kennedy ◽

Norman Kreitman

Keyword(s):

General Practice ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Epidemiological Survey ◽

Prospective Survey ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Hospital Referral

Hospital-treated parasuicides∗ have been studied intensively in recent years, and on the basis of these hospital studies aetiological theory is advancing and expensive endeavours in prevention are being put into operation. Yet hospital studies can be misleading because cases selected for admission may not be representative. This prospective survey, based on general practice in Edinburgh, was carried out to study the prevalences of parasuicide uncontaminated by factors influencing hospital referral.

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Follow-Up of Attempted Suicide in Christchurch

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.3109/00048678309159982 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 18-25 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

K. S. Adam ◽

J. Valentine ◽

G. Scarr ◽

D. Streiner

Keyword(s):

General Practice ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

Personality Disorder ◽

Interpersonal Relationships ◽

Mental State ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

Self Reports

Ninety-eight subjects who had attempted suicide and 102 general practice controls previously interviewed were followed-up at 18–24 months. The former continued to show greater social and psychiatric disability than controls and more than one-third made repeat suicide attempts. Nevertheless, as a group, the attempted suicides showed significant improvement in mental state, and familial and interpersonal relationships, whereas controls reported little change in most measures. Persistence of suicidal ideation and repeat attempts were correlated with the diagnosis of psychosis and personality disorder and predictions about the likelihood of further suicidal activity were accurate. Although 92% of patients were referred for further treatment, 38% of these were judged to have dropped out prematurely. Completion of treatment and being in ongoing treatment were positively correlated with patients' self reports of improvement. The findings are compared to experience elsewhere and to a previous Christchurch follow-up study.

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