Clinical Diagnostic and Sociocultural Dimensions of Deliberate Self-Harm in Mumbai, India

• Published in: Suicide & life-threatening behavior Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 223 - 238
• Main Authors: Parkar, Shubhangi R., Dawani, Varsha, Weiss, Mitchell G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2006; Guilford Press; Guilford
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; At Risk Persons; Attrition (Research Studies); Biological and medical sciences; Catchment Area (Health); Clinical Diagnosis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cultural differences; Cultural Influences; Culture; Depression (Psychology); Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Epidemiology; Female; Financial Problems; Foreign Countries; Help Seeking; Hospitals; Humans; India; India - epidemiology; Interviews; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Patients; Psychiatry; Psychological Patterns; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Referral; Self Destructive Behavior; Self-Injurious Behavior - diagnosis; Self-Injurious Behavior - epidemiology; Self-Injurious Behavior - psychology; Severity of Illness Index; Social Influences; Socioeconomic Factors; Substance Abuse; Suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; India; Asia; Mumbai India; Social environment; Self injury; Diagnosis; Self destruction; Cultural environment
• ISSN: 0363-0234; 1943-278X
• DOI: 10.1521/suli.2006.36.2.223

Patients' accounts complement psychiatric assessment of deliberate self‐harm (DSH). In this study we examined psychiatric disorders, and sociocultural and cross‐cultural features of DSH. SCID diagnostic interviews and a locally adapted EMIC interview were used to study 196 patients after DSH at a general hospital in Mumbai, India. Major depression was the most common diagnosis (38.8%), followed by substance use disorders (16.8%), but 44.4% of patients did not meet criteria for an enduring Axis‐I disorder (no diagnosis, V‐code, or adjustment disorder). Psychache arising from patient‐identified sociocultural contexts and stressors complements, but does not necessarily fulfill, criteria for explanatory psychiatric disorders.