TY - JOUR
T1 - Suicide in widowed persons
T2 - A psychological autopsy comparison of recently and remotely bereaved older subjects
AU - Duberstein, Paul R.
AU - Conwell, Yeates
AU - Cox, Christopher
PY - 1998/1/1
Y1 - 1998/1/1
N2 - Using the psychological autopsy method, the authors sought to determine whether widowed people who commit suicide more than 4 years after their spouse's death (n=21) can be clinically distinguished from those who commit suicide after a shorter period of widowhood (n = 14). The latter had a higher rate of psychiatric treatment (P=0.018), early loss/separation (P=0.03), and a nonsignificantly higher rate of lifetime substance abuse (P = 0.07). Spousal bereavement increases the likelihood of physician visits, so the recently widowed represent a population for whom interventions may be readily implemented. Clinicians should monitor suicide risk in their recently widowed patients, especially those with psychiatric, substance abuse, and/or early loss/separation histories.
AB - Using the psychological autopsy method, the authors sought to determine whether widowed people who commit suicide more than 4 years after their spouse's death (n=21) can be clinically distinguished from those who commit suicide after a shorter period of widowhood (n = 14). The latter had a higher rate of psychiatric treatment (P=0.018), early loss/separation (P=0.03), and a nonsignificantly higher rate of lifetime substance abuse (P = 0.07). Spousal bereavement increases the likelihood of physician visits, so the recently widowed represent a population for whom interventions may be readily implemented. Clinicians should monitor suicide risk in their recently widowed patients, especially those with psychiatric, substance abuse, and/or early loss/separation histories.
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U2 - 10.1097/00019442-199811000-00008
DO - 10.1097/00019442-199811000-00008
M3 - Article
C2 - 9793581
AN - SCOPUS:0031702692
VL - 6
SP - 328
EP - 334
JO - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
JF - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
SN - 1064-7481
IS - 4
ER -