Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Psychology - Essay Example The selected sample comprised of randomly selected 716 patients from the psychiatric emergency room. They ranged in age from 12 to 95 years and had both male and female patients who were White or Black. All the subjects were either suicidal or had expressed suicidal tendencies. They were categorized into three groups: suicide ideators, suicide attempters and nonsuicidal controls. The procedure of the study was carried out through evaluations and interviews by a clinical social worker, a psychiatric nurse, and a psychiatrist. The diagnosis on the other hand was based on a combination of clinical interviews, medical examinations or laboratory tasks. The gathered information was detailed comprising of demographic information, history of suicide attempts and ideation and history of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and mental illness. The results of the study showed that suicidal patients differed from nonsuicidal patients in many ways however there were a lot of similarities present between sui cide attempters and ideators. The suicide ideators had the severest levels of pathology. The nonsuicidal controls had the highest frequency of previous psychiatric treatment, hospitalization and use of medications.