ABSTRACT
In this chapter the authors shall look more closely at the experimental clients who took another overdose in the year following their admission to the trial. They explores the reasons why task-centred casework failed to prevent these overdoses and consider whether these clients were helped or showed improvement in other ways in spite of their repeats. There was a small group who took another overdose almost at once, after the first or second interview. There were five cases where repeating clients quickly rejected contact with the social workers. In the final group of repeaters who also seemed to the social workers to have gained little from their social work, task-centred work had been carried out but seemed to make little impact on a chaotic life-style, except in the very short term. In conclusion, the reasons why task-centred work failed to prevent repeat self-poisoning appeared complex.
