Herbert S. Ripley

The relationship between attempted suicide and committed suicide

Summary The statistical relationship between attempted suicide and completed suicide was studied by (1) a review of 15 published follow-up studies of attempters that provided information on the incidence of completed suicide, and (2) a review of 9 published studies of committed suicide that provided data on the frequency of prior suicide attempts. The results of these studies were compared and tabulated. The limitations and methodologie deficiencies of the studies were discussed and suggestions were made for more reliable and comprehensive future research. The incidence of completed suicide in the follow-up studies of attempted suicides ranged from 0.03 per cent in one short-term study to 22.0 per cent in the longest follow-up study. The incidence of completed suicide among attempters was many times that occurring in the general population. Studies of groups who have committed suicide have found the incidence of prior suicidal attempts to vary from 8.6 per cent to 62.0 per cent. The incidence of prior suicide attempts among those who completed suicide was many times that of the general population. The clinical prognostic value of a history of attempted suicide and of the presence of those social and psychological factors associated with a high suicide risk was discussed. These data support the concept that attempted suicide and committed suicide involve two different, though overlapping, populations. The aim of this paper was to clarify the nature and extent of the overlapping.

HYPERTENSION AS A REACTION PATTERN TO STRESS; SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA ON VARIATIONS IN BLOOD PRESSURE AND RENAL BLOOD FLOW

Excerpt There has long been an awareness of a relationship between life situations, emotions and the level of blood pressure in normal and hypertensive subjects. Moreover, it has been suspected tha...

Inhibitory Effects of Male Sex Hormone on Human Menstruation and Their Evaluation by Vaginal Smears.

Conclusion A study is presented in which the administration of testosterone propionate interrupted regular menstrual cycles in a young woman. Menstruation was resumed after cessation of treatment with this hormone. Vaginal smears showed that during the period of induced amenorrhea there was a replacement of the normal smear picture by one of the typical atrophic menopausal type, indicating a temporary suppression of ovarian follicular activity. This smear type was preceded and followed by characteristic intermediate stages and persisted throughout the course of treatment, and for a short time afterward. It was then followed by gradual resumption of follicular activity and a normal smear picture. The next menses occurred 28 days after the last dose of Oreton and about 12 to 13 days after the establishment of follicular activity. This study furnishes a method for controlling the use of male sex hormone in women, and for inducing a temporary cessation of their menstrual cycle.