Perfil do adolescente que tenta suicídio em uma unidade de emergência

Abstract

Emergency Units frequently assist suicide attempts. It is important to study this phenomenon in adolescence, since this is a conflict period. This study aimed to outline an epidemiological profile of adolescents admitted in an Emergency Unit, who were diagnosed as suicide attempters. Thus, we examined the records of adolescents admitted at this Unit as suicide attempters in 2002. The results revealed that 77.8% of the cases are characterized as follows: female, predominant age range between 15 and 19 years old, single, white, student, living in neighborhoods with low purchasing power, taking medication during the day. Our findings were similar to those described in other studies and thus require special attention.

Suicide attempts by exogenous intoxication among female adolescents treated at a reference hospital in the city of Recife-PE, Brazil

“…poisoning, seeking a "slower and sweeter" form of death (25,26) . The results of the present study corroborate the statements of a number of authors regarding self-intoxication as the method generally used by female adolescents during a suicide attempt, involving the ingestion of medication or poisons and allowing a greater possibility of being saved (1,7,17,27,28) . Household pesticides were the most commonly used poisons, followed by medications.…”

“…This finding is alarming, as this problem is further aggravated by the encouragement of selfmedication in the media, the lack of primary pharmaceutical care, the indiscriminate medical prescription of psychoactive drugs and inadequate storage in the home (29,16) . Previous studies report that pharmaceutical substances have been the most frequent category of intentional intoxication in adolescence, especially among the female gender (7,24,30) . However, this present study found that pesticides were the method of choice for the majority of female adolescents, although other studies have reported that the ingestion of these chemical substances and other more violent methods are more employed by the male gender (1,16,30) .…”

“…The recommendation of maintaining medication out of the reach of children is common. However, parents/guardians should be counseled to act in a preventive fashion so that access to medications and chemical products, such as poisons, lye, etc, is difficult within the home, especially when adolescents are present (7) . The majority of adolescents interviewed had no previous history of attempted suicide.…”

“…Suicide among young people is a current problem in both Brazil and the world and is associated to individual, environmental and social factors. The frequency of self-destructive behavior among adolescents is a challenge to society as a whole and public healthcare professionals in particular (1,7) . According to data from the World Health Organization, more than one thousand people of all cultures, religions, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic levels commit suicide in the world each day (8) .…”

“…Suicide attempts are closely related to life crises and frustrating experiences (11) . Especially for the female gender, adolescence is the characteristic period for the initiation into emotional/romantic relationships, which is also a factor of considerable importance in the generation of conflict and frustration and may predispose an individual to attempting suicide (7) . Suicide is a continuous process the goes from conception and its different forms of expression, passing through threats, gestures and intentions until reaching the act itself.…”