Psycho-Social Assessment of Participants in ICU with Deliberate Self Harm: An Observational Study

Objectives: To assess the socio demographic profile, prevalence of psychiatric disorders, methods employed and significant life events among the participants of deliberate self harm (DSH) admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: After taking approval from the institutional ethics committee and obtaining a written informed consent, forty participants of DSH, admitted in the ICU were recruited for the study. A specially designed semi structured Performa was used to collect the socio-demographic details, DSM- IV-TR criteria was used to identify the mental health disorders, The Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) was used to identify the distress and Presumptive Life Stress Event Scale was used to identify the significant life events among the recruited subjects of DSH. Results: The mean age of the study group (n=40) was 29.4 yrs with the females constituting the majority (53.3%). Majority of the subjects were married (50%). Psychiatric disorders were identified among 53.3% of the subjects with depression constituting the major diagnosis. Depression was followed by alcohol dependence and adjustment disorder contributing 10% each. Most common method employed for DSH was poisoning (90%) followed by hanging (6.6%) and slitting of wrist (3.3%). Among half of the subjects, significant contributory life events had occurred within last 6 months with marital conflict being the commonest (13%). Conclusions: Psychiatric disorders are very commonly present among the participants of deliberate self-harm. Marriage and gender do not play a significant role in DSH. The life events leading to the deliberate self harm were influenced by the traditional gender roles. Poisoning is the commonest method of DSH.