The British Journal of Psychiatry 131: 631-641 (1977)
© 1977 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
A typology of parasuicide
AS Henderson, J Hartigan, J Davidson, GN Lance, P Duncan-Jones, KM Koller, K Ritchie, H McAuley, CL Williams and W Slaghuis
Parasuicide is not a single syndrome. Subtypes at present recognized are
based largely on clinically derived stereotypes. When considering a series
of patients, the clinician is unable to handle more than a few attributes
at a time. This paper describes the application of three very different
clustering algorithms to a material of 350 treated parasuicide patients.
Mathematically, three types emerge. Clinically, two of these are
interpretable and make sense. The types established are: I (n = 107) a
group not characterized by any of the variables we examined; this group is
a puzzle, mainly because the reasons for the parasuicidal act are not
clear. II (n = 132) a depressed, alienated group with high
life-endangerment. III (n = III) a group whose act was highly operant: they
felt alienated and were angry with others. These groups did not differ
significantly on demographic variables. The usefulness of this typology,
particularly for management, after-care and prevention, has now to be
assessed.