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Psychiatric Morbidity in a Sample of Accidents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

T. A. Holding
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh EH10 5HF
B. M. Barraclough
Affiliation:
Medical Research Council Clinical Psychiatry Unit, Graylingwell Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex PO10 4PQ

Summary

The coroner's records of no accidental deaths resulting from poisoning, drowning and falling were examined for evidence of mental illness. Sixty per cent were classified as mentally ill before they died, depression, drug dependence and alcoholism accounting for over three-quarters of the diagnoses. Deaths given accident verdicts should be included in the study of the mortality of the mentally ill.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1977 

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