Suicide and suicide attempters

Every year, worldwide, around 1 million people kill themselves. Many other people make unsuccessful attempts at ending their lives and there is some debate about whether people who commit suicide are different to those who make an attempt. An Italian study compared 94 people who killed themselves between 1994 and 2004 with 94 outpatients who had made at least one suicide attempt over the same period. Suicide victims were more likely to be unmarried, have poor social support and to have had more voluntary and compulsory admissions to hospital than suicide attempters. Suicide victims were less likely to have had stressful events during their childhood and adolescence and to be divorced and widowed than suicide attempters.

Innamorati, Marco ... [et al] - Completed versus attempted suicide in psychiatric patients: a psychological autopsy study Journal of Psychiatric Practice July 2008, 14(4), 216-224