Victor Frankel in his book entitled man in search of meaning mentions
something that he call Sunday nerousis. that more people are prone to
suicdie during the weekends or vacation. when the business of their
life subsides they find themselves empty and purposless and more
likely to despondecy. I am looking for colabarative studies, or
evidence or andectodes that support this theise.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Apr 2006 05:59 PDT

According to the CDC:


http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/TABLE14_99.pdf
AVERAGE NUMBER OF DEATHS AND TOTAL NUMBER OF DEATHS BY DAY OF THE
WEEK, FOR SELECTED CAUSES: UNITED STATES, 1999


overall deaths do, in fact, peak on Fridays and Saturdays.

However, suicides (intentional self-harm) peak during the week, with
Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays ranked #1, 2, and 3, respectively.


Frankel may have had another country in mind when he wrote of Sunday
neurosis, or perhaps the data had a different spread in another
source.  But unless he provided a citation for his statement, it may
be hard to back up his idea in the face of the actual data from the
CDC.


Let me know what you think.


pafalafa-ga  (man in search of statistics)

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Clarification of Question by proffesor-ga on 23 Apr 2006 18:34 PDT

Me thinks you have a point. I wonder is there are more suicide
attempts, or admission to psychiatric ward on weekends...

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Apr 2006 18:45 PDT

Hmmm...


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15521581&dopt=Abstract
Fluctuations and seasonality in suicidal attempts
...In males, the peak day for attempted suicide was Monday, whereas in
females--Sunday and Monday


The study was done in Poland, but that's closer to Frankl's neck of
the woods than anyplace in the US!


Not sure how to proceed on this one...any suggestions?


paf

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Apr 2006 18:47 PDT

Actually, I suppose one could make the case that a weekend of musing
on life might well lead some to make an attempt on Monday.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 23 Apr 2006 18:49 PDT

Another one that says suicides peak on Mondays:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1887454&dopt=Abstract


Sunday neurosis...Monday action...?

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Clarification of Question by proffesor-ga on 25 Apr 2006 13:00 PDT

Thanks anyway. if you have any other ideas let me know.

have you considered the effect access to a support system might have? 
it's possible that more people harm themselves on weekends because
their medical or psychiatric resources are not available on those
days.  same with monday self-harm; people have struggled through the
weekends on their own.  additionally, people without strong social
supports would face the weekend without contact and/or a sense of
belonging.

...just a suggestion.
fs