TITLE:
Clinical Profile of a Person with Experience of Deliberate Self-Poisoning
AUTHORS:
Vanja Tatalović, Ana-Marija Vejnović, Sveto Bjelan, Sanja Bjelan, Isidora Đozić
KEYWORDS:
Self-Poisoning, Suicide Attempt, Appeal, Abuse, Benzodiazepines
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.11 No.4,
April
30,
2024
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Suicide is one of the leading causes of premature death in young adults. Among the major risk factors for suicide is a pre-existing suicide attempt. Self-poisoning is the most common form of suicide attempt, so we decided to examine the clinical profile of people with this experience to contribute to the design of prevention programs in order to reduce suicide rate. The Aim: The aim was to analyze sociodemographic and psychopathological characteristics, and health of patients who were under psychiatric treatment due to deliberate self-poisoning. Material and Methods: We analyzed 190 patients (99 women and 91 men) who were admitted to the Clinic for Psychiatry of the Clinical Center of Vojvodina in 2020, after deliberate self-poisoning. Medical records were used to collect psychopathological and sociodemographic characteristics, physical health data, characteristics related to the act, and the substance used for self-poisoning. Results: The average age was 39.01 ± 15.44 years. It was determined that, during the analyzed period, the most common motive for self-poisoning was suicide. Women were more often treated for suicidal and non-suicidal intentions, while men were more often hospitalized for abusing substances. The prevalence of previous psychiatric treatment existed in 65.8% of respondents, while 29.47% of them had this experience before. Suicidal intent was most common in patients with depressive disorders, while those with substance addiction were motivated by avoiding withdrawal symptoms or pleasure. Personal psychiatric therapy was used for self-poisoning in 42.86% of patients. The most commonly used substance was benzodiazepines. Conclusion: In order to prevent intentional self-poisoning, it is necessary to recognize psychiatric disorders and to attend early treatment. Increased control of prescription of psychotropic drugs, primarily benzodiazepines, could reduce the incidence of self-poisoning phenomena.