Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:54:19.999Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Two Syndromes of Suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Irene M. K. Ovenstone  and
Norman Kreitman
Irene M. K. Ovenstone
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, and University of Edinburgh; Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham NG3 6AA
Norman Kreitman
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

People who kill themselves are grouped together as suicides on the basis of that one action, yet they can hardly be considered to be a homogenous class. Attempts to define sub-categories among suicides can be made in a number of different ways, none by itself entirely satisfactory. Differentiation by psychiatric diagnosis is one possibility, but is difficult to achieve and throws little light on the undoubted contribution of social factors. Sociological studies have usually persisted in regarding all suicides as intrinsically similar, and have sought to relate variations in rates between different sections of the community in terms of general social variables such as status integration, social isolation, anomie and the like. Yet suicides are not a uniform group, and relatively little can be achieved while this fact is ignored.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 124 , Issue 581 , April 1974 , pp. 336 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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

Bagley, C., and Greer, S. (1971). ‘Clinical and social predictors of repeated attempted suicide: a multivariate analyses.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 119, 515–21.Google Scholar
Barraclough, B., and Shea, M. (1970). ‘Suicide and Samaritan clients.’ Lancet, ii, 868–70.Google Scholar
Bunch, J., Barraclough, B., Nelson, B., and Sainsbury, P. (1971). ‘Suicide following bereavement of parents.’ Soc. Psychiat., 6, 193–9.Google Scholar
Chowdhury, N., and Kreitman, N. (1973). ‘Evaluation of an after-care service for parasuicide (‘attempted suicide’) patients.’ Soc. Psychiat. 8, 67–81.Google Scholar
Greer, S. (1973). Personal communication.Google Scholar
Helgason, T. (1964). ‘Epidemiology of mental disorder in Iceland.’ Acta psychiat. Scand., Suppl. 173.Google Scholar
Kennedy, P. F., and Kreitman, N. (1973). ‘An epidemiological survey of parasuicide (‘attempted suicide’) in general practice.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 123, 23–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessel, W. I. N., and Grossman, G. (1961). ‘Suicide in alcoholics.’ Brit. med. J., ii, 773–4.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N., Philip, A., Greer, S., and Bagley, C. (1969). ‘Parasuicide.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 115, 746–7.Google Scholar
Lester, D. (1970). ‘Social disorganisation and completed suicide.’ Soc. Psychiat., 5, 175–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Litman, R. (1971). ‘Experience in a suicide prevention centre’, in Symposium on Suicide and Attempted Suicide. Stockholm: Skandia.Google Scholar
McCulloch, J., Philip, A. E., and Carstairs, G. M. (1967). ‘The ecology of suicidal behaviour.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 113, 313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, G., and Robins, E. (1967). ‘Social factors in suicide.’ J. Amer. med. Assoc., 199, 303–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ovenstone, I. M. K. (1973). ‘A psychiatric approach to the diagnosis of suicide, and its effect upon the Edinburgh statistics.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 123, 15–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sainsbury, P. (1955). Suicide in London. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Seager, C., and Flood, R. (1965). ‘Suicide in Bristol.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 919–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.