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A psychiatric study of suicide among urban Swedish women
Author(s) -
Åsgård U.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1990.tb01367.x
Subject(s) - psychiatry , suicide prevention , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , psychology , medicine , medical emergency , pathology
A total of 104 suicides among women were investigated by means of a modified psychological autopsy, including interviews with survivors and a review of somatic and psychiatric records. Diagnosis according to Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) showed that 35% were suffering from a major depressive disorder during their final month and another 24% were also depressed; 12% were substance abusers and 14% had adjustment disorders. Two thirds had attempted suicide and another 23% had communicated suicidality in other ways. Slightly more than half of the women had been psychiatric inpatients and another 19% had at some time been outpatients. Fifty‐seven percent had been psychiatric inpatients or outpatients during the final year of life. An increasing number of life events occurred during the final 6 months. In most cases the depressed women had been treated ineffectively with antidepressant drugs.