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These statistics take no account of attempted suicides, of which no
accurate figures can be obtained but which are believed to be six to ten
times that of suicides-at least in urban communities. It is known that
during the year, 502 patients were admitted to local hospitals suffering
from an overdose of drugs (7 ultimately fatal). Included in these
figures are some of more than 375 patients admitted as suspected
attempted suicides (2 ultimately fatal). These figures, of course, do not
include patients who were dead on arrival at hospital, residents admitted
to hospitals outside the borough, or those treated at home. Nevertheless,
as Dr. Eustace Chesser has pointed out: "The bare figures of suicide and
attempted suicide tell us nothing about motive. Moreover, they are
dangerously misleading because they ignore the possibility that many
attempts are not genuine. If it can be shown that a significant
proportion of those who are supposed to have attempted to kill themselves
did not want to succeed, it is clear that we should not describe their
acts as 'attempted suicide'. What, then, were they trying to do? The
view that they are merely sending out a distress signal is now widely
accepted." ... "At any given time it is estimated that there are at least
half a million people in Britain who have made at least one attempt in the
course of their lives to kill themselves... There is no way of
discovering the state of mind of the large number of people who try to
commit suicide and fail. There are no official figures and the normal
techniques of a social survey are inapplicable... Some people who
genuinely meant to kill themselves are saved, whereas other who may have
been play-acting go too far and succeed."
A further point on figures is that suicide statistics are of
doubtful reliability as, until 1961, suicide was a criminal offence and
affected burial rights.
In reviewing the possible reasons for this continued high incidence
of suicide in the borough, it is only possible to mention briefly some
of the salient points from the voluminous literature on the subject. So
far as this country is concerned, the ratio between male and female
cases has changed during this century from approximately 2:1 to
approximately 3:2, the change mainly developing since the beginning of
the second world war. In both sexes, suicide rates are found to
increase sharply with age; between the second and third decades the
rate doubles, and in males a peak is reached at about sixty-five-it
occurs about ten years earlier in women. These increases and peaks
appear to be related to periods in life when an individual's situation
in society changes critically. It is a major cause of death in young
people and among the 25/34 year-olds constitutes one in ten of all
deaths, In other words, it tends to increase when the support and
authority of the family group is first discarded. It is high among
the aged owing to loneliness and desolation, and a feeling that life is
valueless. Approximately ten per cent. of suicides have made previous
attempts.
Just as the suicide rates for nations remain remarkably constant
over a period of years and differ consistently from those of other
nations, so do the rates between communities in large cities differ
significantly and conform to a definite pattern. The widowed, the
separated and the divorced have a high rate; physical illness is a
relatively important factor; suicides tend to increase in the middle
class and decrease with poverty, yet unemployment and overcrowding
rates have shown no correlation with suicide.
On the contrary, those of a higher occupational status have a
proportionately greater occurrence of suicide, and the top educational
groups have been found to be more suicide prone. It is difficult to
ascertain the incidence of mental disorder among suicides. Estimates
vary widely in this and in other countries. A North London review in
1955 suggested mental disorder in 37% and abnormal personality in a
further 17%, but more recent American research suggests a very much