Traits, Attitudes and Symptoms in a Group of Attempted Suicides

Much early research on attempted suicide looked upon this phenomenon as failed, frustrated or bungled suicide, an attitude which still persists among the general population. Conceptually, attempted suicide was viewed as a special case of suicide, and theories about the latter were used to explain the former, without much success. Stengel's influential monograph (Stengel and Cook, 1958) made an important contribution to the study of suicidal behaviour by contending that attempted suicide presented issues peculiar to itself as well as sharing problems with suicide. The definition of attempted suicide offered by Stengel (1964) is as follows, ‘A suicidal attempt is any act of self-damage inflicted with self-destructive intention, however vague and ambiguous. Sometimes this intention has to be inferred from the patient's behaviour.’ Suicidal attempts as thus defined are frequently insufficient to cause death, and must be related to the social setting of the patient. In situations which might be called crises of despair some people injure themselves in order to appeal for help, to spite others or to submit themselves to trial by ordeal. Stengel's definition has found general favour, although Kessel (1966) tried to promote the term self-poisoning, arguing that this term aroused fewer preconceived notions in the minds of the uninitiated.