Evaluation of Out-Patient Counselling Compared With General Practitioner Care Following Overdoses

In a prospective treatment study, 80 overdose patients (not requiring intensive psychiatric intervention) received either brief outpatient counselling or were returned to the care of their general practitioners with advice on management. Outcome differed little between the 2 groups. However, 2 subgroups benefitted more from the counselling: women & patients with dyadic problems. Further work is needed to identify treatment approaches helpful to other groups who overdose, especially men.