Clinical and suicidological characteristics of individuals hospitalized as a result of suicide attempts or suicidal intentions

The problem of suicide is the most serious challenge to modern humanity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 720,000 people commit suicide every year. Many people who have attempted suicide suffer from various forms of mental disorders. The aim of the study: to analyze the prevalence of suicide attempts and suicidal intentions (suicidal thoughts with consideration of the method of committing suicide) as the main reason for hospitalization in the acute male and female departments of a regional psychiatric hospital, to determine significant differences in the clinical and suicidological characteristics of males and females. Materials and methods: To solve the objectives of the study, 1016 medical records of patients admitted to the male (640 people) and female (376 people) clinical departments were analyzed. According to the developed selection criteria, 33 people were included in the study (admitted in 2023-24): 12 were hospitalized due to the presence of suicidal intentions (4 men and 8 women); 21 – after a suicide attempt (7 men and 14 women). The patients age ranged from 15 to 63. Statistical analysis of the results and data processing were carried out using the nonparametric method of mathematical statistics using 2 Pearson based on the SPSS program. Results: it was revealed that women are almost three times more likely to be hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital due to the presence of indicated suicidal intentions. Over the entire period (two full calendar years, of the total number of admissions), 1.09% of men were hospitalized with suicide attempts, 0.63% with suicidal intent; in the female group, the corresponding values were 3.72% and 1.86%. When analyzing age characteristics, the majority of hospitalized patients were 15-23 years old, both in the male and female groups. The leading pathology in women was that of the affective spectrum (primary depressive episodes, recurrent and bipolar affective disorder); in men – F2 "Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders" and F6 "mature personality and behavioral disorders in adults". 80% of respondents from the female group had previously consulted psychiatrists, 46% had undergone inpatient treatment, less than 50% of men had such experience, 28% had been treated in hospital before. The method of suicide attempt in women in 50% of cases is poisoning, in men – self-cutting (42.8%). Conclusions: despite the widespread prevalence of suicidal tendencies in literally all diagnostic psychiatric clusters and the significant prevalence of mental illnesses in modern society in general, a minimal number of patients who have attempted suicide or have serious suicidal intentions are hospitalized in psychiatric departments of hospitals. Many hospitalizations are "accidental" – survivors of attempts made using highly fatal methods of injury (falling from a height, self-hanging). Presumably, unfortunately, a significant part of them ends in death. The hospital psychiatry deals with the results of suicide attempts carried out by less lethal means (self-cutting, self-poisoning), carried out mainly at the height of affective experiences or affectiveshock reactions, often with the absence of a true desire to achieve a fatal outcome.