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Suicide among psychiatric patients of a district general hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Suman Fernando  and
Victor Storm
Suman Fernando*
Affiliation:
Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, Middlesex
Victor Storm
Affiliation:
Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, Middlesex
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Suman J. M. Fernando, Department of Psychiatry, Chase Farm Hospital, The Ridgeway, Enfield, Middlesex EN2 8JL.
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Synopsis

Twenty-two psychiatric patients who committed suicide while receiving hospital treatment or within 3 months of discharge from psychiatric care were studied using general population statistics, a random sample of 100 psychiatric patients and a control group matched individually with the hospital suicides. The rate of suicide among psychiatric in-patients was over 50 times that in the general population. A higher vulnerability to suicide was detected among in-patients (v. other patient groups), men (v. women) and middle-aged patients (v. older and younger patients). Suicides were differentiated from controls in having suffered more losses (P < 0·05), being psychiatrically ill for the first time (P < 0·05), having a past history of deliberate self-harm (P < 0·05), and not receiving a schizophrenic diagnosis (P < 0·02). People with mid-life crises, patients who swing rapidly into depression while receiving treatment, and individuals who are judged to be depressed because of personal problems may carry a particularly high suicide risk during psychiatric treatment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , August 1984 , pp. 661 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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