. Haamid Ismail; . Sabreena Qadri; . Arshad Hussain
Volume 12, Issue 7 , August 2022, , Pages 1-4
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Intentional self‑harm (ISH) is one of the most important entities of consultation‑liaisonpsychiatry. This study aimed to assess the clinical profile of individuals with ...
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BACKGROUND: Intentional self‑harm (ISH) is one of the most important entities of consultation‑liaisonpsychiatry. This study aimed to assess the clinical profile of individuals with intentional self‑harmreferred to consultation‑liaison (CL) psychiatric services in a tertiary care hospital.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a cross‑sectional hospital‑based study, inwhich purposive sampling was done for sample selection. A total of 60 subjects of ISH referred forevaluation in a tertiary care psychiatry hospital on specified days were recruited to the study afterobtaining informed consent. Demographic and clinical details such as the nature of the self‑harmattempt, method of attempt, number of attempts, the reason for the attempt, and regret/remorseabout the attempt were documented using the semi‑structured proforma.RESULTS: A total of 60 subjects were included in the study. About 80% of them were below theage of 30 years. The majority (80%) were females, 65% were from a rural background, 56.7% weremarried. The most common method of ISH was self‑poisoning. Interpersonal conflicts with familymembers (50%), followed by interpersonal conflicts with the spouse/partner (21.7%) were thecommonest reason/precipitating factors that lead to intentional self‑harm. Also, 45% of our studypopulation did not have any diagnosable psychiatric illness at the time of assessment, and the mostcommon psychiatric diagnosis was personality disorders (20%).CONCLUSION: Intentional self‑harm is common in young married females from rural backgrounds.Self‑poisoning is the most common method of deliberate self‑harm. More than half of the individualswere diagnosed with the psychiatric illness at presentation.
