Clinical and socio-psychological characteristics of patients with suicidal attempts

Abstract

The article presents a retrospective analysis of medical records of 192 patients with suicide attempts who were treated in somatopsychology department for surgical patients in Scientific Research Institute of Emergency Care named after N.V. Sklifosovsky. The sample consisted of 64% men and 36% women. Most patients didn’t have higher education (82%), were not married (71%), and were in active working age from 15 to 45 years old (74%). The analysis of the medical records revealed that most patients were diagnosed with affective and personality disorder (56%), suffered from addiction and consumed alcohol and drugs regularly (11%), gave themselves stab and incision wounds of different localization (74%), a lot of them had hepatitis C virus (65%). Exasperation of severity of their mental state and growth of psychological and social maladjustment of patients after the initial auto-aggressive action often act as the factors of repetitive and multiple suicide attempts. We conclude that it is necessary to create special centers for the rehabilitation of patients who committed a suicide attempt and for the prevention of repeated auto-aggressive actions based on the model of centers of dialectical behavioral therapy, which provide specialized care for patients with chronic suicidal behavior.

Keywords

• suicidal behavior
• socio-psychological factors
• suicide attempt
• prevention