Life events, Social support, coping strategies in attempted suicide: A casecontrol study.

Suicide is a major concern to medical professionals because of the association of social, personal, occupational modalities and a dearth of effective interventions especially so in our set up. The aim was to analyze and compare the type and severity of life events, coping strategies and social support of suicide attempters versus matched normal controls, and to identify the antecedents if any leading to suicide. A total of 20 consecutive suicide attempters were compare matched controls healthy controls on the following Presumptive Stressful Life Events Scale, Social Support Questionnaire, Carver Coping Style Scale, and General Health Questionnaire. Attempters experienced significantly more stressful life events whereas the control group experienced higher desirable and impersonal life events. Social support, adaptive coping, was significantly lower in attempters. Among all risk factors desirable life events, adaptive coping, and good social support were protective against suicide. Suicide attempters were compared with healthy controls. The findings of the study are preliminary, but emphasize the need of an effective coping and a good social support system especially during significant adverse life events. These steps can contribute in decreasing the morbidity of suicide significantly.