Citation

Lester D. Br. Med. J. BMJ 1973; 1(5850): 422-423.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1973, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

SIR,-Dr. B. M. Barraclough (Br Med J, 3 February, p. 293) claims to document the decline in the suicide rate among young persons in England and Wales by noting a decline from 1963 to 1970. This does not refute the increase I noted (Br Med J, 9 December, p. 612) from 1957 to 1967. The suicide rate fluctuates from year to year and trends can be identified only by data from several successive years, so that the reliability of changes can be ascertained.

Dr. Barraclough noted that first admissions for psychiatric disorders among persons aged 15-19 rose from 1964 to 1970. This may reflect increasing psychiatric facilities for the young, more favourable attitudes toward psychiatric help in the young (and their parents), or an increase in psychiatric disorders among the young. This last explanation, if correct, constitutes a serious challenge for psychiatry. Dr. Barraclough attacks my inference that psychiatric facilities are proving less successful with the young. Data on first admissions are irrelevant here. Data on readmissions would be more to the point.


PMCID: PMC1588279

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1588279/pdf/brmedj01543-0074e.pdf

Language: en