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After dealing with the immediate effects of overdose, poison, or other self-injurious behavior in patients attempting suicide, clinicians are often left wondering what to do next. Suicide gestures, no matter how minor, do indicate an increased risk for completed suicide, but most patients who engage in these behaviors do not go on to kill themselves. These researchers sought to determine the accuracy of the Beck Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) in identifying self-injuring patients who are most likely to eventually commit suicide.
From 1993 through 2000, 4415 patients (2631 women) presented to a hospital in Oxford, England, for treatment of self-harm; approximately 90% had poisoned themselves in some way, including severe alcohol intoxication seem…