Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T19:12:43.464Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Suicidal Ideation as a Presenting Complaint

Associated Diagnoses and Characteristics in a Casualty Population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christopher J. Hawley ,
David V. James ,
Paul L. Birkett ,
David S. Baldwin ,
Marian J. De Ruiter  and
Robert G. Priest
Christopher J. Hawley
Affiliation:
Clinical Research Fellow, Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham
David V. James
Affiliation:
The Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead
Paul L. Birkett
Affiliation:
The National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square
David S. Baldwin
Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital, Paddington
Marian J. De Ruiter
Affiliation:
Glenside Hospital, Bristol
Robert G. Priest*
Affiliation:
St Mary's Hospital Medical School, Paddington
*
∗Academic Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London W2
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A prospective study was conducted of all referrals to the emergency psychiatric service of an inner-London hospital over one year. There were 53 individuals who presented with the specific and spontaneous complaint of suicidal ideation without any accompanying act of self-harm. The main diagnoses in this group were personality disorders (40%) and alcohol dependence (15%); only 13% were suffering from depressive illness. Members of the group differed from the other 369 presenters to the service in that they were less likely to be accorded a diagnosis of a defined mental illness, twice as likely to have a criminal record, and more likely to have a previous history of deliberate self-harm. A quarter of the suicidal complainants were admitted to hospital following assessment.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 2 , August 1991 , pp. 232 - 238
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allebeck, P., Allgulander, C. & Fisher, L. D. (1988) Predictors of completed suicide in a cohort of 50 465 young men: role of personality and deviant behaviour. British Medical Journal, 297, 176–178.Google Scholar
Barraclough, G., Bunch, J., Nelson, B., et al (1974) A hundred cases of suicide: clinical aspects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 355–373.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Davis, J. H. & Frederick, C. J. (1973) Classification and nomenclature. In Suicide Prevention in the Seventies (eds Resnik, H. L. P. & Hathorne, B. C.). Rockville, Maryland: National Institute of Mental Health Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention.Google Scholar
Blake, D. R. & Bramble, M. G. (1979) Self-poisoning: psychiatric assessment by junior staff. British Medical Journal, i, 1763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carroll, B. J. (1982) The dexamethasone test for melancholia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 292–304.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. E. (1979) Crisis admission units and emergency psychiatric services. Public Health in Europe, 11. Copenhagen: World Health Organisation.Google Scholar
Department of the Environment (1983) Urban Deprivation. Inner Cities Directorate, information note 2. London: Department of the Environment.Google Scholar
Dorpat, T. L. & Ripley, H. S. (1960) A study of suicide in the Seattle area. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 1, 349–359.Google Scholar
Farmer, R. (1987) Hostility and deliberate self-harm: the role of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 609–614.Google Scholar
Friedman, S., Feinsilver, D. L., Davis, G. W. et al (1981) Decision to admit in an inner city emergency room. Beyond diagnosis: the psycho-social factors. Psychiatric Quarterly, 53, 259–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardner, R. (1980) Management of patients after self-poisoning. British Medical Journal, ii, 1562.Google Scholar
Goldney, R., Adam, K., O'Brien, J., et al (1981) Depression in young women who have attempted suicide. Journal of Affective Disorders, 3, 327–337.Google Scholar
Hawton, K. (1987) Assessment of suicide risk. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 145–153.Google Scholar
Hoehn-Saric, R., Hatcher, M. & Weiskopf, C. (1980) Disposition of psychiatric emergency patients: characteristics associated with hospitalisation. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 9, 605–609.Google Scholar
Jarman, B. (1983) Identification of underpriviledged areas. British Medical Journal, 286, 1705–1709.Google Scholar
Khuri, R. & Wood, K. (1984) The role of diagnosis in a psychiatric emergency setting. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 35, 715–718.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N. (1977) Suicide with previous deliberate self-harm. In Parasuicide (ed. Kreitman, N.). London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Lewis, G. & Appleby, L. (1988) Personality disorder: the patients psychiatrists dislike. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 44–49.Google Scholar
Lieberman, P. & Baker, F. (1985) The reliability of psychiatric diagnosis in the emergency room. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 36, 291–293.Google Scholar
Lintner, C. M. (1985) Psychiatric involvement in cases of deliberate self-harm. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychiatry, 3, 11–15.Google Scholar
Marson, D. C., McGovern, M. P. & Pomp, H. C. (1988) Psychiatric decision making in the emergency room: a research overview. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 918–925.Google Scholar
Morgan, H. G., Burns-Cox, C. J., Pocock, H., et al (1975) Deliberate self-harm; clinical and socio-economic characteristics of 368 patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 564–574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, G. E. (1986) Predicting suicide: the properties of a rare event. In Suicide (ed. Roy, A.). Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Murphy, J. G., Fenichel, G. S. & Jacobson, S. (1984) Psychiatry in the emergency department: factors associated with treatment and disposition. American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2, 309–314.Google Scholar
National Health Service Advisory Service (1988) Report on Services Provided for Mentally Ill People by the Paddington and North Kensington Health Authority and the Social Services Departments of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. London: Department of Health and Social Security.Google Scholar
Newson-Smith, J. G. B. & Hirsch, S. R. (1979) Psychiatric symptoms in self-poisoning patients. Psychological Medicine, 9, 493–500.Google Scholar
Owens, D. W. & Jones, S. J. (1988) The accident and emergency department management of deliberate self-poisoning. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 830–833.Google Scholar
Patel, A. R. (1975) Attitudes towards self-poisoning. British Medical Journal, 127, 257–264.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myers, J. K., Lindenthal, J. J., et al (1974) Suicidal feelings in the general population: a prevalence study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 460–469.Google Scholar
Podgorny, G. (1981) Consultations in emergency medicine. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 10, 389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Priest, R. G. (1976) The homeless person and the psychiatric services: an Edinburgh survey. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 128–136.Google Scholar
Robins, E., Murphy, G. E., Wilkinson, R. H., et al (1959) Some clinical considerations in the prevention of suicide based on a study of 134 successful suicides. American Journal of Public Health, 49, 888–898.Google Scholar
Silver, M. A., Bohnert, M., Beck, A., et al (1971) Relation of depression, attempted suicide and seriousness of intent. Archives of General Psychiatry, 25, 573–576.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. (1974) The epidemiology of suicide attempts, 1960–1971. Archives of General Psychiatry, 30, 737–746.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.