On Time, Death, and Immortality

Pollock, George H.

doi:10.1080/21674086.1971.11926569

Cited by 36 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…The literature on this topic has often focused on the negative aspects of public holidays ( I , [22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. This is exemplified by the following statement by Sattin (1): 'The holiday season, then, is characterized by the arousal of dependency needs, by regression, by anxiety and depression associated with the fulfilment of interpersonal needs, by awareness of one's mortality, and by the memory of past disappointments and losses'.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attempted suicide and major public holidays in Europe: findings from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide

Jessen¹,

Jensen²,

Arensman

et al. 1999

Acta Psychiatr Scand

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There appears to be a transposition of a significant number of suicide attempts from before (and during) a major public holiday until after it. The division of holidays into non-working and working days showed that a 'holiday effect' could only be found around major public holidays, particularly Christmas, Easter and Whitsun. These findings support the theory of the 'broken-promise effect' for major public holidays.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attempted suicide and major public holidays in Europe: findings from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide

Jessen¹,

Jensen²,

Arensman

et al. 1999

Acta Psychiatr Scand

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“…In the past, psychologists have tended to dwell mainly on the negative aspects of the holidays (Cattell, 1955; Pollock, 1971; Sattin, 1975). For example, Cattell describes the “holiday syndrome” as being characterized by “diffuse anxiety, numerous regressive phenomena including marked feelings of helplessness, possessiveness and increased irritability, nostalgic or bitter ruminations about holiday experiences of youth, depressive affect and a wish for magical resolution of problems.” (Cattell, 1955, p. 39).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Frequency of Suicides around Major Public Holidays: Some Surprising Findings

Phillips

Liu

1980

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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This paper analyzes the recorded number of U.S. daily suicides, 1972-1976. The paper shows that: there is a dip in suicides on and just before major public holidays; there is a peak in suicides just after these holidays; and, the dip in suicides is somewhat larger than the peak--hence, there is a net decrease in suicides around the holidays. On balance, the holidays appear to reduce the number of suicides, not increase them, as previously believed. In addition, previous research has focussed on the negative psychological impact of holidays. Our findings indicate that holidays have a positive component, which should be taken into account in future research.

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“…In general, we found evidence that the fluctuation of suicides roughly shows the same pattern around all the major public holidays, namely a decrease in suicides before and an increase after the holiday. We also found that major holidays like Christmas and Easter showed the largest fluctuation in or postponement of suicides, especially compared to the pattern of suicides around shorter, or "minor," holi- A great variety of literature has focused on the negative aspects of holidays (e.g., Barraclough & Shephard, 1976;Cattel, 1955;Eisenbud, 1941;Kunz, 1978;Pollock, 1971;Reid, 1967;Sattin, 1975;Shaffer, 1974), exemplified by the following statement by Sattin (1975): "The holiday season, then, is characterized by the arousal of dependency needs, by regression, by anxiety and depression associated with the fulfilment of interpersonal needs, by awareness of one's mortality, and by the memory of past disappointments and losses" (p. 158). If all individuals have this gloomy view on their holidays, we should expect a lot more suicides around major holidays than actually occur.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Postponed Suicide Death? Suicides around Birthdays and Major Public Holidays

Jessen¹,

Jensen²

1999

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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The relationship between suicide and birthdays, and suicide and public holidays has been studied from data on 32,291 Danish suicides by persons ages 15 years and older in the 25‐year period 1970–1994. Evidence was found to support the theory of the “broken‐promise effect” for major public holidays in that there appears to be a postponement of a significant number of suicides from before a holiday until after. The division of holidays into nonworking and (half‐time) working days showed that a “holiday effect” could only be found around major public holidays, particularly Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun. The postponing or transpositioning effect is relevant to prevention, especially because of the availability and accessibility of help at the end of and after major public (nonworking) holidays.

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On Time, Death, and Immortality

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Attempted suicide and major public holidays in Europe: findings from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide

Attempted suicide and major public holidays in Europe: findings from the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Parasuicide

The Frequency of Suicides around Major Public Holidays: Some Surprising Findings

Postponed Suicide Death? Suicides around Birthdays and Major Public Holidays

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