A Hundred Cases of Suicide: Clinical Aspects

Historically, doctors have not always acknowledged that they have an obligation to prevent suicide, partly because they shared the prevalent idea that most suicides were caused by moral crises, no concern of theirs—and indeed suicide was a criminal matter until quite recently; but more, perhaps, bec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 1974-10, Vol.125 (587), p.355-373
Main Authors: Barraclough, B. M., Bunch, J., Nelson, B., Sainsbury, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Alcoholism - epidemiology
Alcoholism - therapy
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - therapy
England
Family Characteristics
Female
Humans
Male
Marriage
Mental Disorders - genetics
Middle Aged
Personality Disorders
Phobic Disorders
Schizophrenia - epidemiology
Sex Factors
Substance-Related Disorders
Suicide
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Historically, doctors have not always acknowledged that they have an obligation to prevent suicide, partly because they shared the prevalent idea that most suicides were caused by moral crises, no concern of theirs—and indeed suicide was a criminal matter until quite recently; but more, perhaps, because a fatalism has characterized their attitudes to its prevention, even where the suicide was clearly suffering from mental illness. Yet two recent American studies have shown more than 90 per cent of suicides to be mentally ill before their death (17, 8); this finding and the familiar clinical observation that suicidal thoughts disappear when the illness is successfully treated provide a strong case for a medical policy of prevention.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.125.4.355