Suicidal behavior of young men with nervous bulimia

Today, eating disorders (EDs) represent a spectrum of illnesses with one of the highest mortality rates (including suicide) among individuals with mental illness. There is a persistent prejudice that EDs are more prevalent among women, but in recent years, the situation has changed dramatically: the diagnosis of EDs (particularly bulimia nervosa (BN)) is increasingly being made in men. The aim of the study is to study suicidological characteristics of young men suffering from bulimia nervosa. Materials and methods. The study involved 106 young men aged 20 to 24, studying at a university. Of these, 30 had a diagnosis of NB and were included in the study group. The control group consisted of 76 young men without this diagnosis. The following diagnostic tools were used: a clinical and anamnestic questionnaire aimed at identifying autoaggressive patterns in the past and present; the coefficient of prosuicidal tension (CPST); Suicide Risk Questionnaire (SRQ) in the modification of T.N. Razumovskaya. Mathematical processing of the data was carried out using the SPSS program. Results and discussion. The study did not reveal statistically significant differences in classical autoaggressive patterns, but the number of men who thought about the possibility of committing suicide over the past two years in the study group was twice as high as in the control group. A similar situation is observed in relation to the affective profile of the respondents: men with NB in the past two years statistically significantly more often noted: obsessive feelings of guilt (27% and 11% in the control group, respectively), shame (30% and 11%, respectively), a feeling of hopelessness (40% and 9%, respectively), a feeling of inferiority (37% and 7%, respectively). Noteworthy is the frequency of smoking in the group of men (40% and 7%), a tendency in the past two years to unjustified risk (20% versus 5%, respectively). The high suicidal potential of young men with NB is confirmed by high scores on the SRQ scales and the CPST scores, which are widely recognized predictors of self-harming behavior. Conclusions. Despite the absence of statistically significant differences in the prevalence of classic suicidal behavior patterns, the study group of young men with NB is quite challenging from a suicidological perspective. When patterns of self-inflicted behavior are detected in young men, the possibility of NB as a cause should be considered (and vice versa). Developing screening checklists for diagnosing NB in individuals seeking treatment from related specialists for non-eating-related problems is advisable. In suicidological practice, when working with young men (during preventive and screening measures), greater attention should be paid to identifying eating behavior patterns.