Citation

Bradvik L, Berglund M. Suicide Life Threat. Behav. 2003; 33(2): 186-191.

Affiliation

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Association of Suicidology, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12882419

Abstract

This paper analyzes the variation of suicide by day of the week in alcohol dependence, with public holidays taken into consideration. From 1949 through 1969, 1,312 patients with alcohol dependence were admitted to the Department of Psychiatry in Lund. By 1997, a total of 102 (99 men) alcoholic patients had taken their own life. Suicide victims with severe depression and other diagnoses were compared. There was a suicide peak on the first two days after weekends and holidays in patients with alcohol dependence (p < .05). Alcohol withdrawal is proposed as a contributor to the suicide peak.