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Two Syndromes of Suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Irene M. K. Ovenstone  and
Norman Kreitman
Irene M. K. Ovenstone
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, and University of Edinburgh; Mapperley Hospital, Nottingham NG3 6AA
Norman Kreitman
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Park, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
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Extract

People who kill themselves are grouped together as suicides on the basis of that one action, yet they can hardly be considered to be a homogenous class. Attempts to define sub-categories among suicides can be made in a number of different ways, none by itself entirely satisfactory. Differentiation by psychiatric diagnosis is one possibility, but is difficult to achieve and throws little light on the undoubted contribution of social factors. Sociological studies have usually persisted in regarding all suicides as intrinsically similar, and have sought to relate variations in rates between different sections of the community in terms of general social variables such as status integration, social isolation, anomie and the like. Yet suicides are not a uniform group, and relatively little can be achieved while this fact is ignored.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 124 , Issue 581 , April 1974 , pp. 336 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1974 

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