Deliberate self-harm seen in a government licensed private psychiatric hospital and institute

Abstract

Majority of the published studies on suicide deal with identifying the sociodemographic and psychosocial aspects of suicide attempters and those who have completed suicide or to identify the characteristic differences between the two groups. There are very few studies focusing mainly or only on deliberate self harm. Most of these are hospital based studies or in a setting of general hospital psychiatry units. The present study is from Ram Psychiatry Hospital and Institute, a government licensed private psychiatric institute at Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It is a prospective study of individuals with self harm behavior mostly without the intention to kill, attending the psychiatry outpatient department of the hospital for the period of one year (January to December 2014) a total number of 140 cases are registered. Sociodemographic, clinical profiles with Axis I or Axis II diagnosis or otherwise, and the initiating or precipitating cause or mode of self-injury or self-harm are studied. The results are presented and discussed.