Psychological factors in adolescent drug overdosers

Objective: Adult studies show a correlation between hopelessness and suicide attempts. The lethality of suicide attempts was found to be independent of other psychological variables in adult studies. It was supposed that adolescents display different clinical characteristics than adults and hence there may not be an association between hopelessness and suicide attempts in the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychological correlates of suicide intent and the lethality of the suicide attempt in adolescent drug overdosers. Method : Thirty-three adolescents who were brought to the emergency department of Vakif Gureba Training Hospital after suicide attempts with drug overdose were assessed with various psychometric scales. The relationship of suicide intent and the lethality of suicide attempt with other psychometric and demographic variables were looked for. Results : The girls outweighed boys in number and the lethality of the attempt was higher in the girls. Inability to express feelings was found to be associated with repetitive suicide attempts. Similar to adults, hopelessness was found to be correlated with suicide intent. There was no association between suicide intent and depression. Conclusion: This shows that hopelessness influences the suicidal intent in adolescent suicide attempters, independent of depression. Those adolescents who have difficulty in expressing their feelings may prefer drug to ingestion as a suicidal behavior, which may be regarded as an alternative relief and communication method.