Relationships of age and axis I diagnoses in victims of completed suicide: a psychological autopsy study
American Journal of PsychiatryPublished 1 August 1996
Yeates Conwell, Paul R. Duberstein, Christopher Cox, John Herrmann, Nicholas Forbes, Eric D. Caine
Citations726
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score5.27
SNIP3.68
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
It is suggested that risk for suicide increases with age in individuals with major affective illness, and depressed elderly men are particular targets for suicide prevention strategies.
Abstract
The distribution of psychiatric illnesses in suicide victims differs across the life course. Age-related patterns of addictive and psychotic disorders echo their prevalence in the general population. In contrast, the relationship between age and mood disorders among suicide victims is distinctly different from that of the general population. These findings suggest that risk for suicide increases with age in individuals with major affective illness. Depressed elderly men are particular targets for suicide prevention strategies.
Keywords
PsychologyMedicine
The GerontologistAssessment of Older People: Self-Maintaining and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
18,541 Citations1969M. P. Lawton, Elaine Brody
JAMAComorbidity of mental disorders with alcohol and other drug abuse. Results from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study
5,099 Citations1990D. A. Regier
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyCUMULATIVE ILLNESS RATING SCALE
2,315 Citations1968Bernard S. Linn, Margaret W. Linn +1 more
A Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, designed to meet the need for a brief, comprehensive and reliable instrument for assessing physical impairment, has been developed and tested and is well suited to a variety of research uses.
The British Journal of PsychiatryA Hundred Cases of Suicide: Clinical Aspects
1,289 Citations1974B. M. Barraclough, Jane Bunch +2 more
Two recent American studies have shown more than 90 per cent of suicides to be mentally ill before their death, and the familiar clinical observation that suicidal thoughts disappear when the illness is successfully treated provide a strong case for a medical policy of prevention.
Archives of General PsychiatryRisk Factors for Adolescent Suicide
904 Citations1988David A. Brent, Joshua A. Perper +5 more
A profile of psychiatric patients at high risk for suicide, and the proper identification and treatment of such patients may prevent suicide in high-risk clinical populations are suggested.
American Journal of PsychiatryMental disorders and comorbidity in suicide
862 Citations1993Markus Henriksson, Hillevi Aro +5 more
The majority of suicide victims suffered from comorbid mental disorders, and needs to be taken into account when analyzing the relationship between suicide and mental disorders and in planning treatment strategies for suicide prevention in clinical practice.
Archives of General PsychiatryScaling of Life Events
735 Citations1971Eugene S. Paykel
Varied subjects were asked to judge the degree to which 61 life events were upsetting, and consensus scaling of events may facilitate use of a quantified methodology in empirical studies of life stress.
American Journal of Public Health and the Nations HealthSome Clinical Considerations in the Prevention of Suicide Based on a Study of 134 Successful Suicides
711 Citations1959Eli Robins, George E. Murphy +3 more
The present investigation was designed to attempt to gain information about suicides occurring in metropolitan St. Louis in a one-year period by means of interviews with relatives, friends, job associates, physicians, and others shortly after each successful suicide.
The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social ScienceAge Groups in American Society and the Rise of the Young-Old
615 Citations1974Bernice L. Neugarten
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryAggregating Data from Multiple Informants in Child Psychiatry Epidemiological Research
558 Citations1992Héctor Bird, Madelyn S. Gould +1 more
The results obtained through statistical procedures designed to identify the "optimal" informant for specific symptomatic criteria and diagnoses do not seem to offer a clear-cut advantage over a simple combinatorial rule.
Archives of General PsychiatryThe Family History Approach to Diagnosis
529 Citations1986Nancy C. Andreasen
The results confirmed the usefulness of the family history method, which has some limitations, but has respectable sensitivity for many major diagnoses when broad but well-specified criteria are used.
Comprehensive PsychiatryA study of suicide in the seattle area
511 Citations1960Theodore L. Dorpat, Herbert S. Ripley
The Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseCONDITIONS PREDISPOSING TO SUICIDE
507 Citations1977Charles P. Miles
By reviewing causes of death among cohorts of various major disease entities or conditions, one may infer that a large majority of suicides are associated with a relatively small number of conditions.
Archives of General PsychiatrySan Diego Suicide Study
507 Citations1986Charles L. Rich
It is concluded that a closer look at the young group is necessary to see what other differences might occur between the drug abusers and other young suicides.
American Journal of PsychiatryPsychological autopsy of completed suicide in children and adolescents
489 Citations1985Mohammad Behshad Shafii, S. Carrigan +2 more
A psychological autopsy of 20 children and adolescents aged 12-19 years who had committed suicide and a matched-pair control group revealed that 85% of the victims and 18% ofThe control subjects had expressed suicidal ideation.
Archives of General PsychiatryMental Disorders in Adolescent Suicide
457 Citations1991Mauri Marttunen
The results indicate a strong relatedness between adolescent suicide and the presence of depression, antisocial behavior, and alcohol abuse.
American Journal of PsychiatrySuicide and mental disorders: a case-control study of young men
375 Citations1994Alain Lesage, R Boyer +5 more
In young men, completed suicide is linked to specific mental disorders, namely, major depression, borderline personality disorder, and substance abuse, which is frequently associated with completed suicide.
The Canadian Journal of PsychiatryMortality in a Cohort of Patients with Schizophrenia: A Record Linkage Study*
373 Citations1991Stephen C. Newman, Roger Bland
Archives of General PsychiatryMental Illness and Suicide
363 Citations1995Andrew T. A. Cheng
Despite the widely different rates of depressive illness and alcoholism in different cultures previously reported, the psychiatric antecedents of suicide are the same in the West and the East.
American Journal of PsychiatrySuicide in major depression
318 Citations1994Erkki Isometsä, M Henriksson +4 more
Examination of suicide victims with current unipolar DSM-III-R major depression in Finland found there were significant sex differences in current and previous treatment and suicide methods, and it would seem crucial to improve treatment and follow-up, for males with major depression, in particular.
Archives of General PsychiatryDeath Without Warning?
225 Citations1993Alan Apter
Israeli male suicides that occurred during compulsory military service were studied using preinduction assessment data, service records, and extensive postmortem interviews with family and peers to suggest a complex relationship between suicide and mental disorder.
The British Journal of PsychiatryThe Current Age of Youthful Melancholia
222 Citations1988Gerald L. Klerman
It appears that the 'baby boomers' - those born in the years after World War II - have had increased rates of depression and other related illnesses, including drug abuse and alcoholism.
Suicide and Life-Threatening BehaviorPsychological Autopsies: Methods and Ethics
216 Citations1990Jan Beskow, Bo Runeson +1 more
Qualitative and ethical issues pertaining to the interview method known as "psychological autopsy", based on the application of the method to three studies of suicides in Sweden and on a review of other investigations are discussed.
Archives of General PsychiatryThe Iowa Record-Linkage Study
193 Citations1985Donald W. Black
Risk for suicide was significant for patients of both sexes with acute schizophrenia, schizophrenia, affective disorders, and alcohol and other drug abuse, for men with neuroses, and for women with depressive neuroses.
Suicide and Life-Threatening BehaviorSchizophrenia—A High‐Risk Factor for Suicide: Clues to Risk Reduction
191 Citations1992Constance B. Caldwell, Irving I. Gottesman
It is noteworthy that schizophrenic Persons often commit suicide as the overall level of psychopathology decreases during a nonpsychotic phase, and salient risk factors for suicide in schizophrenic persons and "types" of especially vulnerable patients are yielded.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent PsychiatryThe Psychological Autopsy: Methodological Considerations for the Study of Adolescent Suicide
175 Citations1988David A. Brent, Joshua A. Perper +2 more
Successful completion of careful psychological autopsy studies should enable investigators to examine intensively patients who resemble suicide completers, thereby transcending the inherent limitations of this important first step in the investigation of suicide.
Australian & New Zealand Journal of PsychiatrySuicide in Brisbane—A Retrospective Psychosocial Study
169 Citations1980R. Chynoweth, J. I. Tonge +1 more
The study confirms the importance of the recognition and treatment of depressive illness in attempting to prevent suicide and draws attention to the significant contribution of physical illness, especially when affecting the nervous system or gastrointestinal tract, and the role of alcohol and/or barbiturate dependency.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietySuicide Over 60: The San Diego Study
165 Citations1994Susanne S. Carney, Charles L. Rich +2 more
To see if selected clinical factors characterize suicides over the age of 60 differently from younger suicides and to ascertain if those factors characterize female and male suicides over that age differently.
International PsychogeriatricsMental Disorders in Elderly Suicide
145 Citations1995Markus Henriksson, Mauri Marttunen +5 more
Investigation of the prevalence and comorbidity of current mental disorders defined by DSM-III-R among elderly suicide victims and to compare them with the mental disorders among younger victims found suicide among the elderly without a diagnosable mental disorder and somatopsychiatric comerbidity seems to be rare.
Acta Psychiatrica ScandinavicaA psychiatric study of suicide among urban Swedish women
116 Citations1990Ulf Åsgård
A total of 104 suicides among women were investigated by means of a modified psychological autopsy, including interviews with survivors and a review of somatic and psychiatric records, showing that 35% were suffering from a major depressive disorder during their final month and another 24% were also depressed.
Quarterly Journal of Studies on AlcoholAlcohol in Suicide and Homicide
110 Citations1973Donald W. Goodwin
The role of drinking in suicide, however, is not clear; and alcoholics apparently believe that drinking is associated with homicide.
Suicide and Life-Threatening BehaviorThe Psychological Autopsy: Methodological Considerations for the Study of Adolescent Suicide
110 Citations1989David A. Brent
Successful completion of careful psychological autopsy studies should enable investigators to examine intensively patients who resemble suicide completers, thereby transcending the inherent limitations of this important first step in the investigation of suicide.
American Journal of PsychiatryOverview: pseudodementia
96 Citations1983Thomas W. McAllister
On the basis of the available data, it appears that there may be at least two categories of pseudodementia and that the cognitive impairment associated with depressive illness is more appropriately viewed as a depression-induced organic mental disorder.
American Journal of Geriatric PsychiatryReconsidering Depression in the Elderly
87 Citations1993Eric D. Caine, Jeffrey M. Lyness +1 more
It is argued that current sample selection procedures minimize the variability of the very phenomena under study; therefore, few phenomenologic differences or risk factors for long-term outcome have been noted consistently and future studies must include a broader range of subjects and carefully examine in a multidimensional fashion a wider range of "comorbid" conditions, personality and social assessments, and neuropsychologic and neurobiologic measures.
Archives of General PsychiatrySuicide and Psychiatric Care In the Aging
84 Citations1964Elmer A. Gardner
A cumulative psychiatric case register to which all psychiatric experience for residents of a geographic area is routinely reported can facilitate unique investigation into the epidemiology of suicide.
Journal of Affective DisordersSecular trends in psychiatric diagnoses of suicide victims
63 Citations1991Gabrielle A. Carlson, Charles L. Rich +2 more
Post-mortem psychiatric diagnoses are compared in two cohorts of male suicides from St. Louis (1956-1957) and San Diego (1981-1982) and similar structured interviews and diagnostic criteria had been used in both assessments, finding depression occurs more frequently in younger ages.
NeuropsychobiologySuicide and Endogenous Depression with Somatic Symptoms in the Lundby Study
40 Citations2008Olle Hagnell, Birgitta Rorsman
The purpose of the study was to elucidate the role played by the so-called masked or somatic depressions in suicide and to enhance the awareness of hospital clinicians and practitioners of the existence, diagnosis and treatment of endogenous depression.
Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyHypochondriasis in the Elderly Depressed
37 Citations1989Elisse Kramer‐Ginsberg, Blaine Greenwald +2 more
Improvement in hypochondriacal complaints with treatment, yet persistence of less intense hypochondRIacal concerns after remission suggests that these features may represent an admixture of state and trait phenomena in elderly depressives.
The GerontologistThe Frail Elderly: Research Dilemmas and Research Opportunities
36 Citations1983Gordon F. Streib
Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesProspective Studies of Suicide and Mortality in Psychiatric Patients
27 Citations1986Donald W. Black, George Winokur
During the first two years following hospital discharge, natural deaths, accidental deaths, and suicide were excessive; after two years, suicide and accidental deaths continued to be excessive, but not natural deaths.
Suicide and Life-Threatening BehaviorMedical Examiners and Manner of Death
24 Citations1991George K. Jarvis, Menno Boldt +1 more
Experimental study of medical examiners in Alberta, Canada produced manner of death determinations from simulated cases (vignettes) in order to examine interexaminer variation in certification judgments.
Psychiatric ServicesThe Psychological Autopsy: A Technique for Investigating a Hospital Suicide
17 Citations1974Kathy Neill, Howard S. Benensohn +2 more
The staff of the suicide studies unit at St. Elizabeths Hospital have found the psychological autopsy useful in reviewing the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a hospitalized patient.