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Chapter 6 - Mortality and suicide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2009

Shane Darke
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Louisa Degenhardt
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Richard Mattick
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
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Summary

Introduction

Despite its salience as a cause of death amongst illicit drug users, suicide has been a relatively neglected area of research in the drug and alcohol field. This is curious because, as noted previously, it has long been known that there are extremely high levels of depressive disorders amongst this population (Darke & Ross, 2001; Degenhardt et al., 2001; Dinwiddie et al., 1997; Teesson et al., 2005), and suicide is a leading cause of death amongst illicit drug users. Despite its status as a “hidden issue” of the illicit drug field, however, suicide presents a major clinical challenge to those treating drug-dependent users, and needs to be recognised as such. The current chapter examines rates of suicide, methods employed, and risk factors amongst the general population and illicit drug users. Both completed and attempted suicide are examined, representing two aspects of a single phenomenon.

Suicide amongst the general population

Rates of completed suicide in the general population vary greatly from country to country. For example, rates higher than 0.3 per thousand are reported in Finland, Hungary, and Sri Lanka compared to rates of approximately 0.1 per thousand in the US, UK, and Australia (Diekstra & Gulbinat, 1993; Hassan, 1995; Lynskey et al., 2000).

Type
Chapter
Information
Mortality amongst Illicit Drug Users
Epidemiology, Causes and Intervention
, pp. 80 - 95
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • Mortality and suicide
  • Shane Darke, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Louisa Degenhardt, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Richard Mattick, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: Mortality amongst Illicit Drug Users
  • Online publication: 30 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543692.006
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  • Mortality and suicide
  • Shane Darke, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Louisa Degenhardt, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Richard Mattick, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: Mortality amongst Illicit Drug Users
  • Online publication: 30 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543692.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Mortality and suicide
  • Shane Darke, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Louisa Degenhardt, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Richard Mattick, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: Mortality amongst Illicit Drug Users
  • Online publication: 30 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543692.006
Available formats
×