The key to a psychological autopsy is the person's mental history...

Üsküdar University Vocational School of Health Services Autopsy Assistant Program organized an event titled 'Psychological Autopsy'. Expert Psychologist and Psychotherapist Ayşe Ümet was the guest of the online event. At the event, many topics related to psychological autopsy and how it is performed were discussed.

The online event, which was moderated by Head of Autopsy Assistant Program of Vocational School of Health Services Asst. Prof. Buse Sabiha Bozaslan, attracted great interest from the participants.

"Psychological autopsy is conducted thoroughly..."

Pointing out that the psychological autopsy is divided into two, Specialist Psychologist Ayşe Ümet said that "Psychological autopsy is done in two ways. The first is done in suicides, when it is accepted with certainty whether the manner of death was suicide or not. The other is the equivalent of death. It is done in cases where the manner of death is sudden and uncertain. The main principle of psychological autopsy is that the greater the amount of relevant data analyzed, the more accurate the results given by investigations are likely to be. The psychological autopsy is conducted extensively and takes an average of 20 to 50 hours to complete. Sometimes it can take even longer.”

"Drug use is very important."

Referring to the importance of determining whether one had a specific intention to commit suicide, Ayşe Ümet said that "The use of phrases like, 'You don’t have to worry about me, throw a party on my behalf.' Before the suicide, it is necessary to analyze the language, collect it, record, and write it to determine whether there is any change in their discourse and a diseased condition. Drug use is also checked. It is important to identify all the drugs used by the victim because drugs have side effects, even painkillers. It can also have a different side effect on everyone; therefore, the use of medication is very important."

"The key to a psychological autopsy is the person's mental history."

Pointing out that it is important to examine the psychological and mental state of the deceased before death, Ayşe Ümet said that "The key to a psychological autopsy is the person's mental history. The person's mental history is to investigate previous suicide attempts. 'Did they? How many times have they done it? How did they do it?' This is a very important issue. It is also important to determine the cause that requires therapy. Why did they go to therapy? Why did they need it? Depression, manic depression, bipolar disorder... There is a suspicion that bipolar disorder does not cause it during the mania period because they suddenly feel euphoric because they make too many emotional transitions, and a suddenly feels at the bottom."

"Experts were surveyed to test their level of knowledge about psychological autopsy."

Referring to the results of the study, Ayşe Ümet stated that a questionnaire test was conducted to measure the knowledge of the experts about the psychological autopsy and said that "Except for the few studies conducted to investigate suicides in our country, it has never received sufficient attention so far. A survey was conducted to measure the level of knowledge of experts working in the forensic field about psychological autopsy. This study was attended by 211 people working as psychologists, psychiatrists, forensic medicine experts, judges, prosecutors, police officers and lawyers in Ankara, İzmir, and Aydın. At the end of this study, it was seen that 63 percent of the majority have not heard of this concept, and 52 percent of the participants did not know what it meant."

Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)