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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2003) 182: 261-265
© 2003 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

PRELIMINARY REPORT

Suicide prevention: a study of patients' views

JOHN M. EAGLES, FRCPsych

Royal Cornhill Hospital, University of Aberdeen

DAWN P. CARSON, MRCPsych

University of Aberdeen

ANNABEL BEGG, MB, ChB

Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen

SIMON A. NAJI, BSc

University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Correspondence: Dr John M. Eagles, Royal Cornhill Hospital, Cornhill Road, Aberdeen AB25 2ZH, UK

Declaration of interest None.

Background Suicide prevention strategies are usually formulated without seeking the views of people with psychiatric illnesses.

Aims To establish what helped patients with severe psychiatric illness when they felt suicidal.

Method A semi-structured interview was constructed following transcribed interviews with 12 patients. This was administered to 59 out-patients with serious and enduring mental illness, focusing on factors they found helpful or unhelpful when at their most despairing.

Results Three-quarters of patients were in contact with psychiatric services when feeling at their lowest, and this contact was generally deemed to be helpful. Social networks were considered just as helpful as psychiatric services by the half of patients who discussed their feelings with friends or relatives. Religious beliefs and affiliations were helpful. Negative influences included the media and the stigma of psychiatric illness.

Conclusions Efforts at suicide prevention might usefully focus on enhancing patients' social networks, increasing the likelihood of early contact with psychiatric services and decreasing the stigma attached to psychiatric illness. Larger studies of patients exposed to different service models would be informative.




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