Self-poisoning. II.

Kessel, Neil

doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5474.1336

Cited by 81 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The fact that by Jansson's definition the patients did not intend suicide does not make their behaviour automatism. It would be more accurate to describe it by the term 'self-poisoning', introduced by Kessel (1965) because of the difficulty in interpreting motive, and which is so seldom 'attempted suicide'.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The organization and admission policy of the Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre has already been described (Kessel, 1965). There has been a substantial increase in the number of patients admitted in recent years (Aitken & Carstairs, 1968), though the number poisoned by barbiturates has remained remarkably constant (Aitken, Buglass & Kreitman, 1969).…”

Section: Selection Of Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Barbiturate automatism—myth or malady?

Aitken

Proudfoot

1969

Postgraduate Medical Journal

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Summary Patients admitted to the Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, were assessed to identify cases of drug automatism and those who denied the act of self-poisoning. Only two out of 994 instances of poisoning could be attributed to barbiturate automatism. The case histories of these patients are reported. Twenty-nine patients on thirty-one admissions denied the act of self-poisoning and clinical data on this sample are reviewed. It is suggested that there is insufficient evidence for accepting barbiturate automatism as a clinical entity and that the failure of these patients to remember the ingestion of more than a therapeutic dose is the result of psychogenic defence mechanisms. It is concluded that the use of the term automatism contributes nothing to the management of patients poisoned with these drugs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Selection Of Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barbiturate automatism—myth or malady?

Aitken

Proudfoot

1969

Postgraduate Medical Journal

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“…The first cohort studies of patients who had deliberately harmed themselves from Edinburgh and Newcastle in the early 1960s-showed that about a third of the men were unemployed, and this proportion has had a tendency to rise ever since. 28 In 1982 in Edinburgh 62% of the 501 men seen after parasuicide were unemployed as were 47% of the 213 seen in Oxford (unpublished data quoted by Platt').…”

Section: Suicide Versus Parasuicidementioning

confidence: 98%

Occupationless health. "I couldn't stand it any more": suicide and unemployment.

Smith¹

1985

BMJ

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A Welshman who was 40 hanged himself after searching unsuccessfully for work for 10 months. The next day a letter arrived offering him a job. The letter the dead man left said: "I can't go on like this, reading and watching television all day. I Unemployment has been associated not only with suicide but also with the inelegantly named parasuicide, which the Oxford Textbook of Medicine prefers to call "non-fatal deliberate self harm" and defines as: "a deliberate non-fatal act, whether physical, drug overdosage, or poisoning, done in the knowledge that it was potentially harmful, and in the case of drug overdosage, that the amount taken was excessive. "I Despite the preference of the Oxford textbook, I will use the word parasuicide-as do most people writing on the subject. But it is important not to be deceived by the similarity of the words suicide and parasuicide into thinking that parasuicide is simply failed suicide: it is not. Suicide is usually associated with severe and often longstanding psychiatric or physical illness and is commoner in older people and in men; parasuicide, in contrast, is commoner in younger people and women and is usually not associated with longstanding psychiatric illness, although the patients have often experienced intense but shortlasting anxiety or depression. Parasuicide, too, is commoner in social classes IV and V and in deprived urban areas: some association with unemployment would thus be expected.Studies looking for an association between suicide and unemployment are much commoner than those looking for an association with parasuicide, and the main reason for this is simply that parasuicide British Medical Journal, London WC1H 9JR RICHARD SMITH, MB, BSC, assistant editor is a modern phenomenon: it has increased rapidly in the past 20 years and now accounts for about a fifth of all medical emergency admissions. (Interestingly the most recent data suggest that the parasuicide rate has begun to fall, while the unemployment rate has continued to rise.) Although the older studies have thus been of suicide and unemployment, many recent studies are of parasuicide. These have the potential to be more rewarding; because there are many more cases of parasuicide than suicide prospective studies of individuals become a possibility and also the individuals are left alive to investigate. Nevertheless, these potential advantages have not led to much. And one disadvantage is that parasuicide is more difficult both to define and to measure than suicide.Studies of suicide and parasuicide in the employed and unemployed More than 150 years ago Falret suggested that suicide rates rise during economic depressions,4 and Durkheim (the father of the modern word "anomie") in his classic book on suicide confidently wrote: "It is a well known fact that economic crises have an aggravating effect on the suicidal tendency."5 Many contemporary researchers are less confident.In his review Platt follows Dooley and Catalano' in classifying studies of unemployment and both suicide and parasuicide into cross se...

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“…', 2 Other investigators have outlined the characteristics of self-poisoners treated in university hospitals and many other settings.3 8 We report herein the results of a review of all patients with self-poisoning discharged from the four community hospitals in Lansing, Michigan in the calendar year of 1981.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A profile of the self-poisoner in Michigan.

Bouknight¹,

Alguire

Lofgren

et al. 1985

Am J Public Health

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We reviewed the charts of all patients (160) ages 15 and older discharged in 1981 from the four hospitals in Lansing, Michigan with a diagnosis of overdose. Females predominated (65 per cent) and the median age was 27 years. The most common reason for intentional self-poisoning was "significant-other" conffict (54.5 per cent), followed by family conflict and financial problems. Benzodiazepines were most commonly used followed by acetylsalicylic acid and ethanol. (Am J Public Health 1985; 75:1435-1436 IntroductionIn a study of self-poisoning which included the entire city of Edinburgh, Scotland, Kessel reported that most self-poisoners were young, female, and troubled by relationships with other people.', 2 Other investigators have outlined the characteristics of self-poisoners treated in university hospitals and many other settings.3 8 We report herein the results of a review of all patients with self-poisoning discharged from the four community hospitals in Lansing, Michigan in the calendar year of 1981.

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Self-poisoning. II.

Cited by 81 publications

References 2 publications

Barbiturate automatism—myth or malady?

Barbiturate automatism—myth or malady?

Occupationless health. "I couldn't stand it any more": suicide and unemployment.

A profile of the self-poisoner in Michigan.

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