Traits, Attitudes and Symptoms in a Group of Attempted Suicides

¹ Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, Edinburgh University Department of Psychiatry, Edinburgh, 10

That attempted suicide is studied in its own right rather than as an adjunct to the study of completed suicide is due mainly to the writings of Stengel. There is little evidence on clinical grounds to support the notion of a `suicidal personality', although some salient character istics have been observed. Differences in orientation and in populations available for study make the psychological literature emanating from the United States somewhat irrelevant to British workers. The British literature is so scanty that it was considered appropriate to carry out a descriptive study which would complement existing clinical and social studies.

The main findings were these: (1) an SSI diagnosis of character disorder occurred in almost half the cases seen; this was twice the frequency with which it occurs in psychiatric populations, (2) attempted suicides were much more hostile than normals or neurotics, (3) attempted suicides were more anxious, somewhat more introverted and less conscientious than average.

In discussing these findings it was concluded that there is no unique `suicidal personality' although many of those seen manifested poorly integrated personalities. It was felt that there is a need for the study of sub-groups of the attempted suicide population and the present study was seen to provide basic psychological information which might facilitate the selection of such sub-groups.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Henderson, J. A. Davidson, I. C. Lewis, H. N. Gillard, and A. G. Baikie An Assessment of Hostility in a Population of Adolescents Arch Gen Psychiatry, June 1, 1977; 34(6): 706 - 711. [Abstract] [PDF]