Citation

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

Copyright

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

DOI

10.1097/00019442-199811000-00008

PMID

unavailable

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

Keywords

aged; article; bereavement; clinical article; correlation function; female; human; male; rating scale; risk factor; separation anxiety; substance abuse; suicide; suicide attempt; widow