Martha Lavell

Study of suicide in Philadelphia.

UICIDE is an important and pressing problem. The figure of 141 suicides reported in Philadelphia in 1955 is not substantially lower than the 176 automobile fatalities in the same period. The importance is not lessened by the fact that there has been a downward trend in suicide since 1900, when the rate of suicide in Philadelphia was 11.3 per 100,000. In 1955 it was 7.2 per 100,000. In general, the 1900-55 trend in Philadelphia parallels that for the United States during the same timespan. In cooperation with the office of the medical examiner, the division of mental health of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health conducted a study of suicides that occurred in Philadelphia during the 5-year period 1951-55. The purposes of the study were (a) to learn more about the characteristics of individuals who commit suicide, (b) to determine what data should be gathered routinely to obtain a better understanding of the suicide, and (e) to determine ways in which a public health agency might be instrumental in the prevention of suicide. Data on the suicides were obtained from the records in the office of the medical examiner. The records included information obtained by police who questioned immediate members of the family, relatives, neighbors, landlords, and occasionally the family doctor at the time of the suicide. Additional facts had been obtained from the person who identified the body at the morgue. When members of the immediate family were too upset to perform this task, a more distant relative or friend less emotionally involved was substituted. In some cases information had been obtained at a formal inquest. Since the data were gathered from many different sources, it is understandable why the records showed considerable variation in the amount of information. When the suicide was a single person without relatives the information was sketchy. Very little knowledge of the dynamics in the suicide was obtainable from the records, buit some inferences about contributory factors anid motivation can be drawn. Extreme caution, however, should be exercised in the interpretation of such data because the information may be unreliable and because factors found to be associated with suicide may not be causally connected.