Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-11T02:07:52.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Urban Distribution of Non-Fatal Deliberate Self-Harm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

H. Gethin Morgan ,
Helen Pocock  and
Susan Pottle
H. Gethin Morgan
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Bristol, and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Avon Health Authority
Helen Pocock
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Bristol, 39 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol, BS2 8DZ
Susan Pottle
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health, University of Bristol, 39 St. Michael's Hill, Bristol, BS2 8DZ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

1. The incidence of non-fatal deliberate self-harm throughout the City of Bristol during 1972 and 1973 was assessed by means of a survey of patients presenting to Accident and Emergency Departments of hospitals in the area. Fatal or repeated acts of self-harm were not included in the survey. 2. The rates for females exceeded those for males at all ages, with peak incidence of 645 per 100,000 females (age group 15–29 years) and 334 per 100,000 males (age group 25–29 years). Ninety-three per cent had taken a drug overdose of some kind. 3. The problem was found in all electoral wards of the city, though its distribution was markedly centripetal, with a central area having morbidity rates up to 2.8 times that for the city as a whole. 4. The socio-economic correlates of deliberate self-harm were examined by reference both to a series of 368 patients interviewed soon after the event and to the pattern of its distribution throughout the city. A significant positive association was found with areas of overcrowding, lack of exclusive domestic amenities and high proportion of foreign born residents, but there was no correlation with the proportion of persons living alone nor with the type of accommodation. 5. The central high rate area was found to be heterogeneous in socio-economic terms, ranging from a student and young professionals' bed-sitter area to one with a high proportion of unskilled manual labourers and New Commonwealth immigrants. 6. The aetiological implications of the ecological findings for deliberate self-harm throughout the city are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 126 , Issue 4 , April 1975 , pp. 319 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, R. C. B., Buglass, D. & Kreitman, N. (1969) The changing pattern of attempted suicide in Edinburgh, 1926—67. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 23, 111—15.Google Scholar
Bagley, C., Jacobson, S. & Palmer, C. (1973) Social structure and the ecological distribution of mental illness, suicide and delinquency. Psychological Medicine, 3, 177—87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Census, (1971) England and Wales.Google Scholar
Paris, R. E. L. & Dunham, H. V. (1939) Mental Disorders in Urban Areas. Chicago.Google Scholar
Hare, E. H. (1956) Mental illness and social conditions in Bristol. Journal of Mental Science, 102, 349—57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, P. & Kreitman, N. (1973) An epidemiological survey of parasuicide (‘attempted suicide’) in general practice. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 23—34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, P., Kreitman, N. & Ovenstone, I. M. K. (1974) The prevalence of suicide and parasuicide (‘attempted suicide’) in Edinburgh. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 36—41.Google ScholarPubMed
Kessel, N. (1965) Self-poisoning—Part 1. British Medical Journal, ii, 1265—70.Google Scholar
McCulloch, J. W. & Philip, A. E. (1967) Social variables in attempted suicide. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 43, 341—6.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health and Scottish Home and Health Department, Joint Subcommittee of the Standing Medical Advisory Committees (1968) Hospital Treatment of Acute Poisoning. London.Google Scholar
Roberts, F. J. & Hooper, D. (1969) The natural history of attempted suicide in Bristol. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 42, 303—12.Google Scholar
Smith, A. J. (1972) Self-poisoning with drugs—a worsening situation. British Medical Journal, iv, 157—9.Google Scholar
Stengel, E. & Cook, N. C. (1958) Attempted Suicide. London.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.