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PERSONALITY AND PARASUICIDE: METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
Author(s) -
Eastwood M. R.,
Henderson A. S.,
Montgomery I. M.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1972.tb46735.x
Subject(s) - parasuicide , personality , hostility , neuroticism , psychiatry , population , medicine , psychology , epidemiology , suicide attempt , clinical psychology , poison control , suicide prevention , medical emergency , social psychology , environmental health
Attempted suicide or parasuicide is a form of behaviour the management of which has become the responsibility of the medical profession. It now makes considerable demands upon the medical facilities. Several studies have been carried out in Australian hospitals with the purpose of obtaining base‐line data on annual admission rates and the social and medical factors associated with those admissions. These epidemiological studies are not, however, able to provide inception rates, since the number and nature of the population denominator are usually unknown. As ecological studies they are useful, but too little emphasis has been placed upon accurate descriptions of persons committing parasuicidal acts. Using the epidemiological triad of host, agent and environment, we have attempted to obtain more detailed knowledge of the host by means of standardized questionnaires. The intelligence and some personality characteristics of patients admitted to the Royal Hobart Hospital after a parasuicidal act, during the six‐month period from July 1, 1970, were examined. Although considerable attention was given to methodological problems before the study, including a pilot study, it was found that important problems were encountered with contact, response rate, and the validity of the test results, because of drug effects and the mental state of the patient at the time of testing. The difficulties in carrying out psychometric testing on parasuicide patients in a general hospital were clearly realized. However, our results, which had consensual validity with other studies, suggested that, as a group, parasuicide patients are of less than average Intelligence, have high neurotic and hostility scores, and are introverted. We discuss the ways in which these variables might be associated with this type of behaviour. We believe that with improved methodology it should be possible to describe the host more accurately. Then, by examining the distribution of such persons in the community, it might be possible to determine the importance of the host in such behaviour.