Psychiatric Morbidity and the Socio - Demographic Determinants of Deliberate Self Harm

Tendency of human beings to harm themselves is known since ages. Even then, this topic fascinates researchers and it continues to be one of the most talked about, written and discussed subjects, but it still is an enigma. Deliberate self harm (DSH) is common however, there is scanty data on this issue from India.Objectives - To study the socio - demographic and the clinical profiles of the subjects who had the tendency to deliberately harm themselves.Materials and Methods - This is a cross sectional study done in a medical college hospital in Tamilnadu for a period of 6 months from January 2013 to June 2013. The data were recorded in a specially designed proforma which documented the socio- demographic variables, psychiatric illnesses, psychosocial stress factors, past and family history and the details of the suicide attempt.Chi-square, Fisher exact, and t tests were used to note the statistically significant associations.Results - Younger people 25 years of age (63percent) predominated in the study. Males (56) outnumbered the females (26). Most of the DSH patients were married, and were from rural and low socioeconomic backgrounds. A majority of the patients were 1st time attempters, they had no family history and they used poisoning as the most preferred method for suicide. More than half of the patients (64.6percent) had psychiatric illness which was predominantly Depression (32.9percent). Interpersonal conflict with family members (38percent) and interpersonal conflict with spouse (24percent) were found to be the most common precipitating factors for DSH. Conclusion -Population based prospective studies, awareness programme, preventive measures and proper psychiatric referral systems should be built up to decrease the incidence of self harm.