terioration of material circumstances and life events which are overwhelmingly stressful to this group and which frequently precipitate a suicide attempt. All of these received in-patient treatment at the time of the overdose, but they described ambivalent relationships with the professional services, complaining that their whole situation had never been fully taken into account.
Cork City has a serious self-poisoning problem associated with a deprived environment, local authority housing, unemployment, interpersonal stress, and child neglect. The level of educational achievements in the high-rated wards is low and young people may feel a sense of powerlessness when trying to control their lives or change difficult circumstances.
What should be done to reduce the distress and self-poisoning which is a sign of the distress in these deprived areas? Should it be better material conditions and a different mix of population? Better infrastructure and a more broadly based education system? Should it be more social workers and community leaders? It is obvious that the ordinary medical model is inadequate to meet the needs of people living in these deprived conditions.
Bancroft, J. H.J., Skrimshire, A., Reynold, F., Simkins, and Smith, J. ( 1975). "'Self-poisoning and Self-injury in the Oxford area: Epidemiological Aspects, 1969-73'", British Journal of Preventive & Social Medicine, 29, 170-7.
Daly, M., Conway, M. and Kelleher, M. J. ( 1986). "'Social Determinants of Self-Poisoning'", British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 406-13.
Holding, T. A., Buglass, D., Duffy, J. C. and Kreitman, N. ( 1977). "Parasuicide in Edinburgh--A Seven-Year Review 1968-1974", British Journal of Psychiatry 130, 534-43.
Morgan, H. G., Pocock, H. and Pottle, S. ( 1975). "'The urban distribution of non-fatal deliberate self-harm'", British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 319-328.
Platt, S. ( 1984). "'Unemployment and Suicidal Behaviour: A Review of the Literature'", Social Science & Medicine, 19 (2), 93-115.
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: Current Research on Suicide and Parasuicide:Selected Proceedings of the Second European Symposium on Suicidal Behaviour, Edinburgh, June 1988.
Contributors: Stephen David Platt - Editor, Norman Kreitman - Editor.
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press.
Place of publication: Edinburgh.
Publication year: 1989.
Page number: 109.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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