This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nimr, G. E.
Right arrow Articles by Salib, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nimr, G. E.
Right arrow Articles by Salib, E.
The British Journal of Psychiatry (2003) 182: 266
© 2003 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Correspondence

Telephone support and suicide prevention

G. El Nimr

Harplands Hospital, Stoke-on-Trent

E. Salib

5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust, Hollins Park, Hollins Lane, Warrington WA2 8WA, UK

EDITED BY KHALIDA ISMAIL

We read with interest the paper by De Leo et al (2002), which implied that needs assessment telephone calls and 24-hour emergency services had proved effective for elderly females, with a reported significant reduction in suicide rate.

In our study of 216 elderly suicides in Cheshire and Birmingham over a 5-year period (1994-1998; Salib et al, 2001), 30% of suicide victims were not known to psychiatric services. Surprisingly, 38% of the men and 16% of the women among those elderly suicide victims unknown to services were found to have had some defined, albeit untreated, psychiatric morbidity.

Evidence of psychiatric morbidity was extracted from coroner's records of statements provided by families and friends of the deceased. Men were less likely to be known to local services but more likely to be living alone and to harbour undetected psychiatric morbidity, hence the high risk of succeeding in their first suicide attempt.

Elderly male suicide victims do not tend to ask for help, whether face to face or over the telephone, so we must find a way to take the help to them, particularly at their moment of despair.

The findings of De Leo et al are hardly surprising. However, there is an obvious risk that we may evaluate our services based on ‘total’ decline in numbers of suicides, in which women may be over-represented, thus giving a false impression of the actual reduction in suicide rate.

REFERENCES

  1. De Leo, D., Buono, M. D. & Dwyer, J. (2002) Suicide among the elderly: the long-term impact of a telephone support and assessment intervention in northern Italy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 181, 226 -229.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Salib, E., Tadros, G. & Cawley, S. (2001) Elderly suicide and attempted suicide: one syndrome. Medicine Science and the Law, 41, 250 -255.




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nimr, G. E.
Right arrow Articles by Salib, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nimr, G. E.
Right arrow Articles by Salib, E.