Violent Death and Mental Illness

Abstract

The names of 412 residents of the catchment population of a district general hospital unit who died potentially self-inflicted deaths in the eight years 1974–81 were identified. They were classified as suicide (245), accidental death (126), and undetermined (41). In each group, over half had a lifetime history of psychiatric treatment and over a third were psychiatric patients at the time of their death. The relative risk of a violent death for those who died within a year of their last psychiatric contact was 27 times greater than that of residents with no recent psychiatric contact. The relative risk was highest for those aged 35–44 and lowest for those of 75 years and over.