Social support and suicide attempts

The social support patterns of 73 suicide attempters were compared with the patterns of depressives and normals on the basis of a semi-structured interview data, It was a longitudinal study of stressful life events, social support network and suicide attempts. Specific features of the quantity and quality of social relationships leading to help and support are examined. The crucial differences between suicide attempters, depressives and the normals lay in the number of friends with whom the subjects had regular contact with and the number of friends and relatives who fulfilled other support functions. The implications of the study in planning strategies of suicide prevention are discussed.