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Ella Arensman

Publications and source records attributed to Ella Arensman.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Suicide and other external-cause mortality statistics in Ireland: a comparison of registration and occurrence data.

There are two sets of annual mortality statistics released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland, one based on deaths registered in the particular year and the other based on the deaths that occurred in that year. We compared the registration and occurrence figures for suicide and for other deaths by an external cause for the years 1987-2003. The occurrence figures were, on average, 6% higher than the registration figures. There was evidence that the extent of the discrepancy increased over the study period, reaching almost 20% in recent years. The findings suggest that caution needs to be taken in the media reporting of registration figures for suicide and other external causes of death in Ireland and in the interpretation of these figures by health professionals.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed2005

Problem-solving ability and repetition of deliberate self-harm: a multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: While recent studies have found problem-solving impairments in individuals who engage in deliberate self-harm (DSH), few studies have examined repeaters and non-repeaters separately. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether specific types of problem-solving are associated with repeated DSH. METHOD: As part of the WHO/EURO Multicentre Study on Suicidal Behaviour, 836 medically treated DSH patients (59% repeaters) from 12 European regions were interviewed using the European Parasuicide Study Interview Schedule (EPSIS II) approximately 1 year after their index episode. The Utrecht Coping List (UCL) assessed habitual responses to problems. RESULTS: Factor analysis identified five dimensions--Active Handling, Passive-Avoidance, Problem Sharing, Palliative Reactions and Negative Expression. Passive-Avoidance--characterized by a pre-occupation with problems, feeling unable to do anything, worrying about the past and taking a gloomy view of the situation, a greater likelihood of giving in so as to avoid difficult situations, the tendency to resign oneself to the situation, and to try to avoid problems--was the problem-solving dimension most strongly associated with repetition, although this association was attenuated by self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes of the study indicate that treatments for DSH patients with repeated episodes should include problem-solving interventions. The observed passivity and avoidance of problems (coupled with low self-esteem) associated with repetition suggests that intensive therapeutic input and follow-up are required for those with repeated DSH.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Consistency of memory for emotionally arousing events: a review of prospective and experimental studies.

Although emotionally arousing events are more memorable than ordinary daily life events, the nature of memories for emotionally arousing events is widely debated. On the one hand, researchers consider memories for highly emotional events as malleable and subject to distortion, while on the other hand these memories are perceived as both indelible and consistent over the lifetime. Up till now, a systematic comparison of research findings on consistency of memory for emotional events is lacking. This paper is the first effort to summarize available studies on consistency of memory for emotionally arousing events and to address methodological limitations and suggestions for future research as well. In general, findings show that quality of the selected studies is sufficient to good, with studies with victims of assault and studies on war-exposure reaching higher quality scores than studies on flashbulb memories and experimental memory studies. Victims of assault or war-exposure tend to amplify their memories for the event, while results from flashbulb memory research and experimental research suggest that memory for emotional events is either stable or diminishes over time.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Socioeconomic change and suicide: a time-series study from the Republic of Ireland.

This ecological study examined the association between seven socioeconomic indicators (GDP, unemployment rate, female labor force participation rate, alcohol expenditure, marriage rate, percentage of births outside of marriage, and indictable crime rate) and total, male, and female rates of suicide and suicide plus undetermined death in Ireland during the period 1968-2000. Analysis of the data expressed as absolute values showed highly significant associations between the socioeconomic indicators and the total, male, and female suicide rates. However, these associations were explained by the strongly trended data. The trended nature of the data was removed by using year-to-year differences. Analysis of the first-differenced data showed that none of the socioeconomic indicators was associated with the total, male, or female suicide rates with the exception of indictable crime, which had a significant independent effect on the female suicide rate (coefficient = 2.0, p < .01) but not on suicide plus undetermined death. This study highlights the need to use econometric methods in time-trend analyses, the lack of age-sex specific exposure data in this area, and the challenge of understanding trends in suicide in their socioeconomic context.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed2002

Negative life events and depression in elderly persons: a meta-analysis.

In a meta-analysis of 25 studies, the relationship of both specific types of negative life events and the total number of experienced events to depression in old age was studied. Almost all negative life events appeared to have a modest but significant relationship with depression. The total number of negative life events and the total number of daily hassles appeared to have the strongest relationship with depression (respectively, combined r =.15, n = 5,037, and combined r =.41, n = 461), whereas sudden unexpected events were the only cluster of negative life events that seemed not to be related to depression scores (combined r =.05, n = 857). These findings suggest that providers and developers of intervention and prevention programs for elderly people should pay attention to the occurrence of negative life events. Special attention should be given to elderly people who have experienced an accumulation of stressful events and daily hassles, because they seem to be a group at greater risk.

Adaptation, Psychological↗