Citation

Ennis J, Barnes RA, Kennedy S, Trachtenberg DD. Br. J. Psychiatry 1989; 154: 41-47.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Toronto General Hospital, Ontario, Canada.

Comment In:

Br J Psychiatry 1989;155:868.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Royal College of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2775974

Abstract

DSM-III diagnoses and responses to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were examined in 71 consecutive admissions to an in-patient psychiatric crisis service following deliberate self-harm. Although 80% of the admitted patients were moderately or severely depressed according to BDI scores, only 31% were diagnosed with a major depressive episode. While all of the self-harm patients may be viewed as experiencing severe subjective distress, only a minority were shown to suffer from DSM-III depressive illness. The high depression scores on the BDI may be related to the patients' extreme distress preceding a crisis admission and to the high prevalence of personality disorders in this group of patients.

Language: en