Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T16:56:28.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Parasuicide and Appendicectomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christopher A. Vassilas*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
*
Present address, University of Mental Health, 41 St Michael's Hill, Bristol BS2 8DZ

Abstract

A retrospective case-note study of young women admitted for appendicectomy showed that in those patients who had a normal appendix removed, there was a significantly higher rate of admission for parasuicide, before and after the index admission; 27/184 (∼15%) compared with 17/368 (∼5%) for patients who had an inflamed appendix removed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Canton, G., Santonastaso, P. & Fraccon, I. G. (1984) Life events, abnormal illness behaviour and appendicectomy. General Hospital Psychiatry, 6, 191195.Google Scholar
Creed, F. (1981) Life events and appendicectomy. The Lancet, i, 13811385.Google Scholar
Hinkle, L. & Wolff, H. G. (1961) Observations of the relation of physical illness, medical illness and the social environment. Psychosomatic Medicine, 23, 289296.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. B. & Redlich, F. C. (1958) Social Class and Mental Illness: A Community Study. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ingram, P. W., Evans, G. & Oppenheim, A. N. (1965) Right iliac fossa pain in young women. British Medical Journal, ii, 149151.Google Scholar
Joyce, P. R., Walshe, J. W. B., Bushnell, J. A. & Morton, J. B. (1981) Readmissions to hospital after appendicectomy for non-specific abdominal pain. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery, 51, 465467.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N. K. B. (1983) Suicide and parasuicide. In The Companion to Psychiatric Studies (eds Kendell, R. E. & Zealley, A. K.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.Google Scholar
Lee, J. A. H. (1961) Appendicitis in young women. The Lancet, ii, 815817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, E., Unger, H. T. & Slaughter, R. (1964) Investigation of a psychosocial hypothesis in appendicectomies. Psychosomatic Medicine, 26, 671681.Google Scholar
Miller, P. McC., Ingham, J. G., Kreitman, N. B., Surtees, P. G. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1987) Life events and other factors implicated in onset and in remission of psychiatric illness in women. Journal of Affective Disorders, 12, 7388.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newson-Smith, J. G. B. & Hirsch, S. R. (1980) Psychiatric symptoms in self-poisoning patients. In The Suicide Syndrome (eds Farmer, R. & Hirsch, S.). London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Prusoff, B. A. & Myers, J. K. (1975) Suicide attempts and recent life events: a controlled comparison. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 327333.Google Scholar
Rang, E. H., Fairburn, A. S. & Acheson, E. D. (1970) An enquiry into the incidence and prognosis of undiagnosed abdominal pain treated in hospital. British Journal of Preventative and Social Medicine, 24, 4751.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.