Citation

Duberstein PR, Conwell Y, Cox C. Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry 1998; 6(4): 328-334.

Affiliation

University of Rochester, Department of Psychiatry, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9793581

Abstract

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.

Language: en