Completed Suicide With a Fear of Having Contracted AIDS: a Study of 28 Cases (IN: Suicidal Behaviour in Europe: Recent Research Findings, edited by P Crepet et al)

The aim of this study was to investigate if the fear of having AIDS could in any way be an explaining factor in the suicide process in Finland. The study attempts to answer the following questions: 1) What is the number of AIDS-fear cases among the suicide population of one year? 2) What are the sociodemographic background factors of these cases? 3) What are the triggering factors (and possible exposure or risk behaviour) of the fear of having contracted AIDS? 4) What is the history of, and the connection to, mental disorders of these cases? 5) How well is the suicide risk identified in the AIDS-fear cases with a health care contact before the suicide? (30 refs)