Clinical and social variables which differentiate suicide, open and accident verdicts

Abstract

A study has been made of cases coming before the Brighton coroner in the period 1970-2. Fifty cases in which a suicide verdict was recorded were specially studied, and relatives and acquaintances of the deceased were interviewed. The information thus obtained was compared with information available to the coroner in considering his verdict in 83 further cases in which he made a verdict of 'suicide'. The reliability of the contemporary information on which the coroner's decision is based was largely validated. A study was made of variables which differentiated 'suicide' from 25 'open' and 33 'accident' cases considered by the same coroner. The prevalence of depression did not differentiate 'suicide' and 'open' cases, and this finding contradicts suggestions that the association of depression and suicide might be an artefact of the method of arriving at a suicide verdict. A number of other demographic and clinical factors did however significantly vary between 'suicide', 'open' and 'accident' cases.