Parasuicide

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Parasuicide refers to suicidal gestures, risky behavior likely to result in death, or unsuccessful suicide attempts.

Examples of suicidal gestures include cutting in which the cut is not deep enough to cause significant blood loss, or taking a non-lethal overdose of medication. This differs from self-harm in that, in self-harm, the person's primary intention is to injure himself. These gestures are typically done to alert others to the seriousness of the suicidal person's clinical depression and suicidal ideation, as they are usually treated as an actual suicide attempt by others, including hospital staff. Despite the parasuicidal person having no intention of dying, sometimes suicidal gestures result in actual suicide.

Risky behaviors such as speeding or disregarding traffic laws, or abusing drugs, are considered parasuicide when the person shows total disregard for whether his actions result in his or her death.

Unsuccessful suicide attempts result from either miscalculations in the suicide plan (such as not taking enough pills to reach lethal dose), intervention from others or hospitalization, pure chance, or the suicidal person changing his mind after he has started his suicide attempt. These people are at high risk of attempting suicide again.

Epidemiology

Nearly half of all suicides are preceded by an attempt at suicide that does not end in death. Those with a history of such attempts are significantly more likely eventually to end their own lives than those without.

A suicidal act that did not end in death is commonly called a "suicide attempt" or a "suicidal gesture", with the distinction being that the goal of a suicide attempt is the death of the individual. Those who attempt to harm themselves are, as a group, quite different from those who actually die from suicide; females attempt suicide much more frequently than males do, but males are four times more likely to die from suicide. Therefore, females commit more parasuicides, at least as far as suicidal gestures and attempts are concerned. Regardless of the intention of the parasuicide, it must be treated seriously, due to the risk of future suicide attempts by these individuals.

References

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