Summary
A study of 258 suicide attempters presenting themselves at Yale-New Haven Hospital Emergency Room during a six-month period revealed that the majority of attempts were by pill ingestion. A comparison made with attempt methods revealed that attempts by pill overdose (N= 205) were the most impulsive, had the least intent to kill, and were motivated towards obtaining attention from significant others. Attempts by violent methods (N=53), such as wrist-cutting, shooting or hanging, were more planned, had higher intent to kill, and these attempters expressed more self-directed hostility. While the patients taking overdoses had theleast intent to kill themselves, the medical effects of their attempts weremost serious. The treatment disposition indicated that the pill ingestors more often had medical consequences of the attempt and less often were considered serious psychiatric problems, while the opposite was true of the attempters using other methods. Education about the potential hazards of the medications and the effects of combining medications is seriously needed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Clendenin, W., Murphy, G. E.: Wrist cutting — new epidemiological findings. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 25, 465–469 (1971)
Edwards, J., Whitlock, F.: Suicide and attempted suicide in Brisbane. Med. J. Aust. 1, 932–938 (1968)
Parkin, D., Stengel, E.: Incidence of suicidal attempts in an urban community. Brit. med. J. 1965 II, 133–138
Smith, J., Davison, K.: Change in the pattern of admissions for attempted suicide in Newcastle upon Tyne during the 1960's. Brit. med. J. 1971 IV, 412–415
Mellinger, G., Balter, M., Manheimer, D.: Patterns of psychotherapeutic drug use among adults in San Francisco. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 25, 385–394 (1971)
Matthew, H.: Self-poisoning. Scot. med. J. 16, 362 (1971)
Paykel, E., et al.: Treatment of suicide attempters. A descriptive study. Arch. gen. Psychiat. (in press)
Weissman, M., et al.: Suicide attempts in an urban community, 1955 and 1970. Social Psychiatry 8, 82–91 (1973)
Hollingshead, A.: Two Factor Index of Social Position. Mimeographed booklet, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 1957
Stolley, P., Lasagna, L.: Prescribing patterns of physicians. J. chron. Dis. 22, 395–405 (1969)
Burston, G.: Severe self-poisonging in Sunderland. Brit. med. J. 1969 I, 679–681
Freeman, J., Ryan, C., Beattie, R.: Epidemiology of drug overdosage in Southern Tasmania. Med. J. Aust. 2, 1168–1172 (1970)
Ianzito, B.: Attempted suicide by drug ingestion. Dis. nerv. Syst. 31, 453–458 (1970)
Nicholson, W.: Self-inflicted and accidental poisoning in adults admitted to a general hospital. Practitioner 190, 230–237 (1963)
Jones, D.: Self-poisoning with drugs. A view from a general medical unit. Practitioner 203, 73–78 (1969)
Gottschalk, L., et al.: Psychoactive drug use. Patterns found in samples from a mental health clinic and a general medical clinic. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 25, 395–397 (1971)
Stolley, P., et al.: Drug prescribing and use in an American community. An. Int. Med. 76, 537–540 (1972)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fox, K., Weissman, M. Suicide attempts and drugs: Contradiction between method and intent. Soc Psychiatry 10, 31–38 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00579862
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00579862