Birthday blues: the association of birthday with self-inflicted death in the elderly
Barraclough, B.M.; Shepherd, D.M.
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 54(2): 146-149
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-690X
PMID: 961460
Accession: 004845736
Birthday or anniversary stress might be related to self-inflicted death more than to death from natural causes; there is an obvious and direct link between the psychological aspects of the stress and the cause of death. An association has been reported between anniversary of parent death and suicide [Bunch and Barraclough (1971)]. Identifying such an association can have a practical as well as theoretical value, because the defining of high-risk periods is important for suicide prevention. A test for association between birthday and death day for a sample of 282 self-inflicted deaths is reported.