SUICIDE ATTEMPTS, THE
WAY OF COMMITTING THEM AND,
SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS DURING 2003
IN PATIENTS TREATED IN THE CLINICAL CENTER, NIS
The behavior characterized by enmity towards one’s own being,
where urges for auto-destructive aggression overcome the instincts for
self-preservation is seen only in the human species. In order to understand
fully such an act we must recognize the complex dynamics of intra-psychic
occurrences, sometimes initiated years before the tragic event. The nature of
these auto-destructive events is most often impulsive. On the other hand,
parasuicide is any auto-destructive behavior without a fatal outcome. From a
clinical point of view, this is less a syndrome within an already present
psychopathology and more a way of coping with an unbearable crisis and an
expression of person’s psychological breakdown.
In recent years, in our country, we have noticed an increase
in parasuicidal behavior, mostly among younger and middle-aged population. The
most common form of this behavior is the self-administration of medicaments and
poisonous substances (corrosive agents and pesticides), and they are all
initially treated at Toxicology department of Endocrinology Clinic. Regular
psychiatric consultations at this Clinic enabled us to follow this phenomenon,
with purpose of establishing psychopathological and social factors leading to
this kind of behavior. We presented data from year 2003 concerning suicidal
patients treated at Department of Toxicology at Institute for Mental Health in
order to highlight the key characteristics of this phenomenon in our community.
Acta Medica Medianae 2005; 44(1):25-29.
Key words: suicide attempt, socio-demographic
characteristics, way of committing suicides