Clinical and Psychological Features of Patients With Poisoning By Antihypertensive and Antiarrhythmic Drugs as a Result of Suicidal Actions

Abstract

The effective care for patients with self-poisoning with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs is associated with taking into account both clinical and adverse social, psychological and environmental stress factors. To identify their specifics, a retrospective analysis of 120 medical records and a clinical and psychological examination of 20 patients with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs self-poisoning and a comparison group of 34 patients with selfpoisoning with psychotropic drugs were carried out. It has been shown that the risk group for re-suicide in self-poisoning with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs is about 30% of patients. Risk factors are depressive symptoms that persist before discharge from the hospital, as well as dysfunctional personality traits (perfectionism in the form of increased preoccupation with the assessments of other people and frequent unfavorable comparisons with them, experiencing loneliness and isolation, increased impulsivity and a feeling of hostility from others) and unproductive ways of coping with stress (ruminative thinking or repetitive unpleasant and unproductive thoughts about anergy, lack of strength and loneliness). The results of the study and the developed psychodiagnostic complex can be used to identify targets for urgent psychological assistance and screening for the risk of re-suicide.

Keywords

• self-poisoning
• antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs
• risk factors
• depressive disorders
• suicidal behavior
• prevention