Suicidal Attempts by Unusual Means and Methods: A Brief Review

When a method is unusual, the intention is very strong and then prevention becomes a big challenge; although, suicide is a preventable public health problem.

The author aimed to look into unusual methods of suicidal attempts so that they can be considered in the formulation of prevention strategies.

A search was done in PubMed, PubMed Central, Google, Google Scholar, and BanglaJOL with specific searching key words between 2000 and 2017. Eventually, 23 articles were selected purposively for review.

Nine suicide cases were reported as unusual poisoning, eight attempts were by violent methods, four by stabbing, and another four by unusual asphyxia. The mean age of the victims was 39.96 years, ranging from 17 to 80 years old, 68% being male. A total of 18 (72%) respondents died by the act, while 28% were saved from fatal attempts. Of the victims, 36% were found to have mental disorders, i.e. 28% had depression, 4% had schizophrenia, and 4% had bipolar 1 disorder. Seven cases had notable risk factors and two had a history of previous attempts.

Adult males are more prone to use unusual methods. Males used violent methods more than females, whereas females used more unusual poisoning methods. Asian and south Asians used more poisoning methods than those from other parts of the world