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Suicide attempts preceding completed suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Erkki T. Isometsä  and
Jouko K. Lönnqvist
Erkki T. Isometsä*
Affiliation:
Chief of Research on Mood Disorders and Self-Destructive Behaviour
Jouko K. Lönnqvist
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
*
Erkki Isometsä, MD, PhD, Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Mannerheimintie 166, FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland. Fax: +358-9-4744 8658; e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background

This study investigated three questions with major implications for suicide prevention: the sensitivity of the history of previous suicide attempt(s) as an indicator of suicide risk, the time interval from a preceding suicide attempt to the fatal one, and switching of suicide methods by those eventually completing suicide.

Method

The lifetime history of suicide attempts and the methods the victims (n=1397) used were examined in a nationwide psychological autopsy study comprising all suicides in Finland within a 12-month research period in 1987–1988.

Results

Overall, 56% of suicide victims were found to have died at their first suicide attempt, more males (62%) than females (38%). In 19% of males and 39% of females the victim had made a non-fatal attempt during the final year. Of the victims with previous attempts, 82% had used at least two different methods in their suicide attempts (the fatal included).

Conclusions

Most male and a substantial proportion of female suicides die in their first suicide attempt, a fact that necessitates early recognition of suicide risk, particularly among males. Recognition of periods of high suicide risk on the grounds of recent non-fatal suicide attempts is likely to be important for suicide prevention among females. Subjects completing suicide commonly switch from one suicide method to another, a finding that weakens but does not negate the credibility of restrictions on the availability of lethal methods as a preventive measure.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 173 , Issue 6 , December 1998 , pp. 531 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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