title: Stressful life events, hopelessness, and suicidal intent in patients admitted with attempted suicide in a tertiary care general hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Suicide is a psychiatric emergency. Stressors in life and social variables (like marital status, family, and social support) are among the determinants of suicide. Hopelessness and suicidal intent are among the psychological variables that have shown promise in the prediction of suicide.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess stressful life events, hopelessness, suicidal intent, and sociodemographic variables in patients of attempted suicide.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty consecutive patients admitted with attempted suicide were interviewed. Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale, Beck Hopelessness Scale, and Beck Suicidal Intent Scale were used along with a semistructured pro forma for interview. Data were analyzed with statistical tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-six percent of the participants were females, 72% were less than 30 years of age. Sixty-six percent of the patients had stressful life event score between 101 and 200 with the mean score of 127. The stressful life event score in those who considered they are in need of psychiatric help was significantly high. Most of the patients had mild (34%) and moderate (40%) degrees of hopelessness, and the mean score was 9.64. The mean suicidal intent in the participants was 25.14, when correlated with hopelessness score significant positive correlation was found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lethality of the attempt increases with the increase in hopelessness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, HBT Medical College and Dr. RN Cooper Municipal General Hospital, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Jaiswal
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Faye
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gore
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kamath
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D065026:Hope; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D033182:Intention; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires