@article{ref1,
title="The prevalence of aborted suicide attempts among psychiatric in-patients",
journal="Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica",
year="1997",
author="Marzuk, Peter M. and Tardiff, Kenneth and Leon, Andrew C. and Portera, Laura and Weiner, C.",
volume="96",
number="6",
pages="492-496",
abstract="We report the prevalence of aborted suicide attempts in which the essential characteristics are (i) intent to kill oneself (ii) a change of mind before making an actual suicide attempt and (iii) the absence of physical injury. The lifetime history of aborted suicide attempts was assessed by semi-structured interview of 733 patients, aged 18-59 years, who were consecutively admitted to a psychiatric hospital. In the study group, 46% of subjects had made a suicide attempt and 29% had made at least one aborted attempt during their lifetime. Subjects who had made aborted attempts were more likely to have made actual attempts. Approximately 11% of the subjects in the study group had a history of aborted attempts of potential high lethality, such as going to a height in order to jump, or holding a gun to the head. There were no major demographic differences between those with and without a history of aborted attempts. However, among those with no prior history of actual attempts, subjects with depression and a family history of suicide were more than twice as likely as those without such a history to have made an aborted attempt. Aborted suicide attempts are a common suicidal behaviour among psychiatric in-patients. Whether they predict actual attempts or suicide warrants prospective investigation.",
language="",
issn="0001-690X",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}