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Self-Destructive Behaviour in Oral and Intravenous Drug-Dependent Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. R. Gossop ,
J. P. Cobb  and
P. H. Connell
M. R. Gossop
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
J. P. Cobb
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
P. H. Connell*
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ
*
∗To whom requests for reprints may be addressed.
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Extract

Pierce-James (1967), has shown that British heroin addicts have a very much higher mortality rate than the general population. The same applies to American narcotic addicts; a 20-year follow-up study of a group of narcotic dependents showed the very high death rate of 23 per cent over this period (Vaillant, 1973). Pierce-James (1967), distinguished between suicidal, accidental, and other causes of death, and also demonstrated a higher rate of successful suicide attempts among heroin addicts than in the general population. Connell (1965) suggested that the incidence of suicidal threats and attempts in childhood and adolescence is higher than is generally recognized, and in both adolescents (Gould, 1965) and intravenous narcotic addicts (Frederick et al., 1973) suicidal and self-destructive behaviour is more common than successful suicide. The distinction between suicidal attempts and self-destructive behaviour is unclear. Stengel (1964) defined as suicidal attempts, ‘all cases of potentially dangerous self-poisoning or self-inflicted injury.’ The present study, however, does not assume that self-poisoning or self-inflicted injury necessarily implies suicidal intent.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 126 , Issue 3 , March 1975 , pp. 266 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

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Footnotes

A synopsis of this paper was published in the October 1974 Journal.

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