Suicide attempt violence: gender differences, diagnosis and psychiatric care seeking in Mexico City

BACKGROUND: Suicide cases in Mexico have increased during the last two years and are the second-leading cause of death in the young adult population. AIM: To describe gender differences in violent suicide attempts as relates to diagnosis and the seeking of psychiatric care. METHODS: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted. The referral forms of 241 patients who had attempted suicide were analyzed. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 29.1 (SD=10.8) years, n=140 (58.1%) of the sample were women. Affective disorders were the most frequent diagnoses for both sexes. Women were more likely to delay seeking psychiatric care: 60 days versus 30 days of delay for men (p=0.009). Men were shown to more frequently resort to violent suicide methods. Both women and men who used violent suicide methods were shown to delay by more days the seeking of psychiatric care than those who were found to have used non-violent suicide methods. CONCLUSION: We found that patients who use more violent methods of suicide took longer before seeking psychiatric care. This delay in accessing psychiatric care can be thought to contribute to the fact that completed suicides are more frequent within that category of patients. The majority of suicide attempts occurred in the 17–24 years age group; therefore, it seems reasonable to analyze the existing barriers to seeking psychiatric care, mainly in the young adult population, and to design strategies to bring mental health services closer to this population group.