DefinePK

Abstract

Introduction


Depressive illness is considered to be the fourth leading cause of the global burden of disease (GBD) and is expected to become the second leading cause of GBD by 2020.1 Moreover, depressed people are at high risk of suicide. More than 50% of suicides are attributed to an episode of major depression.2,3
In the past it was a commonly held belief that suicide was the problem of western industrialized countries but now it is a major health problem even in developing countries.4,5 A study has reported that 5000 people attempted suicide between 1997-1999 in Pakistan.Inspite of this fact it is a poorly studied subject in our country.4,6
There is a plethora of research on identifying various risk factors for suicidal behavior throughout the world. But the factors which protect an individual from acting on suicidal urges have little been studied. This is despite the fact that the lower rates of suicides have mainly been attributed to the protective influence of religion and family.7-9 Research has shown that patients who struggle with their suicidal urges have reasons that help them in protection from acting on their suicidal thoughts. These reasons represent various sociocultural and religious factors and a scale has been designed to assess these reasons.10
Hopelessness, suicidal ideations and degree of depression are considered to be the main determinants of suicidal risk.7 The main focus of preventive efforts, against suicide and deliberate self harm, has been to address the risk factors. Augmenting the protective factors against the suicide can also be helpful in preventing the suicide and deliberate self harm. The nature of various protective factors and their relationship with the risk factors can help to identify the strategies for effective interventions in reducing suicide and deliberate self harm.
The present study aims at finding the relationship between the risk factors and the protective factors mentioned above. In addition the proportion of these factors in different sociodemographic and clinical groups will also be studied.