Attempted Suicide: a Practical Guide to its Nature and Management

Abstract

Attempted suicide is one of the most difficult problems facing the health service. Each year in the United Kingdom at least 100,000 individuals are admitted to [the] hospital after deliberately taking overdoses or injuring themselves. Among women attempted suicide remains the most common medical reason for emergency admission to hospital[s]; among men it is second only to heart attacks. Apart from the load this problem places on busy hospital medical and psychiatric staff, it also has considerable impact on the work of general practitioners and social workers. Each individual's attempt is likely to cause distress to relatives and friends, possibly augmented by the danger of the act terminating in death. In the second edition of this book, the authors, who have had extensive clinical and research experience in this field, have updated the earlier edition particularly with reference to recent changes in the patterns of attempted suicide, the increasing problem of attempted suicide by adolescents, motivational aspects of self-poisoning, and the important associations between unemployment and attempted suicide. The highly practical emphasis, especially concerning how best to help people after attempts, is retained in this edition, with further elaboration based on new official recommendations and recent research findings. The book is important reading for psychiatrists, social workers, nurse counsellors, general practitioners, clinical psychologists, general hospital doctors and nurses, and people working in voluntary agencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: cover) The main focus of the book is on how to help patients who have taken overdoses or injured themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: introduction)