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Are Young Women who Attempt Suicide Hysterical?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robert D. Goldney
Robert D. Goldney*
Affiliation:
University of Adelaide, Department of Psychiatry, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000
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Summary

Young women who had attempted suicide did not score in a more hysterical manner than women in a comparison group when assessed by the Hysteroid-Obsessoid Questionnaire. Those who made suicide attempts resulting in little physical harm more often demonstrated hysterical traits than those whose attempt involved a serious threat to life. However, even in those subjects the majority did not score in an hysteroid manner, and they certainly scored in a less hysteroid manner than subjects of the comparison group.

These results are in accord with the small literature using standardised assessments, and do not support the clinical view that young women who attempt suicide exhibit marked hysterical traits.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 138 , Issue 2 , February 1981 , pp. 141 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

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