Personality Disorder and Suicide among young people in suburban London

Suicide among young people is recognised as a worldwide serious public and mental health problem. Suicide rate in this age group in the U. K. rapidly increased from the 1980s but there was paucity of information about characteristics of the suicide phenomenon as research suffered from methodological errors. Personality disorder as a risk factor for suicide attracts less research attention due to historical bias and controversies about the diagnosis. Similarly, parenting styles have been associated with suicidality but the association with completed suicide was not studied in depth. There was also evidence to suggest that atypical bereavement reaction is relatively common among the relatives of those who complete suicide but the nature of this experience was unclear. The author researched these and other pertinent issues relating to suicide among young adults through a psychological autopsy of all young people who completed suicide in a London Borough over the period of a decade.