Al. Pillay et Dr. Wassenaar, FAMILY DYNAMICS, HOPELESSNESS AND PSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCE IN PARASUICIDAL ADOLESCENTS, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 31(2), 1997, pp. 227-231
Objective: Adolescent parasuicide has often been associated with famil
y disturbance, hopelessness and psychiatric disturbance, but little em
pirical work has been done to verify these clinical impressions. Metho
d: The present study compares matched groups of hospitalised parasuici
dal adolescents, non-psychiatric medically hospitalised adolescents an
d a control group on measures of family disturbance, hopelessness and
psychopathology. Results: The findings reveal significantly higher lev
els of family disturbance, hopelessness and depressive symptoms in the
parasuicidal group. Conclusions: The results suggest that prevention
and treatment of adolescent parasuicide should focus on both individua
l and family dynamics.