Suicide Attempts of High Medical Seriousness in Schizophrenic Patients

A retrospective study was conducted to compare schizophrenic patients who had attempted suicide with other nonschizophrenic suicide attempters. It was found that schizophrenic patients were younger & generally unmarried, usually used violent methods, made more attempts while in a psychiatric center, & presented a lower incidence of concurrent organic illness than the nonschizophrenics. A large majority (80%) showed delusional & hallucinatory symptoms at the time of the attempt. (22 Refs.)