The psychopathology of suicide in the north western Peloponnesus.

A postmortem inquiry of 105 legal documents concerning suicide deaths obtained from the Office of the District Attorney covering the province of Achaia was studied for the 15-year period 1970-1984. The suicides were classified into two groups; group A consisting of 63 suicides (with a history of psychiatric illness) and group B consisting of 42 suicides (with no history of psychiatric disturbance). The findings suggest that people with a history of psychiatric illness committing suicide are disorganized in their personal and social life, with frequent previous suicidal attempts. Whereas, the nonpsychiatrically diagnosed group seemed to commit suicide under outside pressures which dislocated their lives progressively or abruptly. The differences between the two suicide groups are discussed and compared with similar studies regarding suicidal behavior.