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Classification of Adolescents who Take Overdoses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Keith Hawton
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
Madeline Osborn
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital
John O'Grady
Affiliation:
St. Nicholas Hospital, Gosforth, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE3 3XT
Deborah Cole
Affiliation:
Department of Counsellor Education, Suffolk University, Boston, MA 02114, USA

Summary

A simple method of classifying adolescent self-poisoners into three sub-groups on the basis of the duration of their problems and the presence or absence of behavioural disturbance is described. The three groups differed markedly in terms of factors concerning their families, especially their relationships with their parents, and in their medical and psychiatric histories, the nature of their overdoses and the problems they were facing at the time. The treatment offered to members of the three groups also differed. The method of classification may offer a useful means of distinguishing between subjects in terms of outcome, including subsequent adjustment and repeat attempts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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