Citation

Kreitman N, Casey P. Br. J. Psychiatry 1988; 153: 792-800.

Affiliation

University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

Comment In:

Br J Psychiatry 1989;154:720-1.

Erratum On

Br J Psychiatry 1989 May;154:733

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3256378

Abstract

The dramatic clinical presentation of parasuicide tends to deflect attention from the repetitive pattern of this behaviour in many patients. In an epidemiological study of annual cohorts of parasuicides for 1972, 1977, and 1982 admitted to the Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre, Edinburgh, it was found that for certain subgroups of the population 'repeaters' were actually commoner than 'first-ever' patients, and a number of risk factors were identified, of which social class was particularly important. The clinical characteristics of patients distinguished by their frequency of repetition were also described, with special attention to the stability of these differentiating features over time. It is suggested that the habitual repeater requires closer study, and that the factors which lead to initiation into a parasuicidal 'career' are not necessarily those which conduce to repetition.

Language: en