Suicidal tendencies under the influence ofalcohol – arational strategy inapsychiatric admission room. Preliminary report

Suicidal declarations made by patients intoxicated with alcohol are a common problem in the psychiatric practice. The fol‑ lowing study was conducted in order to check how many patients who declared suicidal tendencies while intoxicated with alcohol, with no history of previous psychiatric treatment, still declare suicidal tendencies after being referred to a sober‑ ing‑up station. To this end, a study group consisting of 81 patients, aged 18 to 65 (mean 37.3) years old, 47 men and 34 women, brought to the Provincial Multidisciplinary Hospital No 4 Admission Room by the emergency due to suicidal tendencies, in period 01.06.2010‑31.05.2011, was analysed. The criteria of the group included no previous history of psy‑ chiatric treatment, alcohol blood concentration of at least one per mille, no other (i.e. internist) contraindications to refer‑ ral to the sobering‑up station. Patients diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses other than alcohol dependency syndrome dur‑ ing the initial consultation were excluded from the study. A percentage of patients with persevering suicidal threat after sobering‑up was calculated. The results show that among 81 patients referred to the sobering‑up station, suicidal tenden‑ cies were declared after sobering‑up by 7 (8.64%). Statistical significance was determined by using McNemar test to be p