Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:03:56.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

General practice aspects of self-poisoning and self-injury

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Keith Hawton  and
Eileen Blackstock
Keith Hawton*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
Eileen Blackstock
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Keith Hawton, University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

A sample of individuals who had carried out acts of self-poisoning or self-injury were interviewed and information was also obtained from their general practitioners. More of both the men and the women had visited their general practitioners in the year before the acts than would have been predicted from national statistics, although this was not found to the same extent for persons aged 16–24. Thirty-six per cent of the sample had contacted their general practitioners during the week before the act and over 60% in the month beforehand. Sixty-three per cent had visited them for a variety of psychiatric and social reasons during the preceding year and had nearly all been prescribed psychotropic drugs, usually tranquillizers or sedatives. These were commonly the drugs taken in acts of self-poisoning. Methods of prevention are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , February 1977 , pp. 571 - 575
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alderson, M. R. (1974). Self-poisoning – what is the future? Lancet i, 1040–1041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bancroft, J. H. J., Skrimshire, A. M., Reynolds, S. F., Simkin, S. & Smith, J. (1975). Self-poisoning and self injury in the Oxford area: epidemiological aspects 1969–73. British Journal of Social and Preventive Medicine 29, 170–177.Google ScholarPubMed
Barraclough, B., Bunch, J., Nelson, B. & Sainsbury, P. (1974). A hundred cases of suicide: clinical aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry 125, 355–373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, B., Depla, L., Harwin, B. G. & Shepherd, M. (1974). An experiment in community mental health care. Lancet ii, 1356–1358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, L. A. (1972). A general model for the analysis of surveys. American Journal of Sociology 77, 1035–1086.Google Scholar
Johnson, D. A. W. (1973). Treatment of depression in general practice. British Medical Journal ii, 18–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Office of Population Census and Surveys (1974). Studies on Medical and Population Subjects. No. 26. Morbidity Statistics from General Practice. Second National Study, 1970–1971. H.M.S.O.: London.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966). Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. Oxford University Press: London.Google Scholar
Smith, A. J. (1972). Self-poisoning with drugs: a worsening situation. British Medical Journal iv, 157–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar