Intento de suicidio en niños menores de 14 años atendidos en el Hospital Universitario del Valle, Cali

Objectives. Describe the biopsychosocial characteristics of the younger than 14 year old population with suicidal intent, the methods used, the psychological characteristics and the structure and dynamics of the families of origin. Materials and methods. Descriptive clinical study of the younger than 14 year old population who consulted to the Valle University Hospital for suicidal intent during the period between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2002; each minor was evaluated using the toxicological history or trauma history, the psychiatric clinical history, the Child Behavior Checklists (CBCL), the human and family figure test, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), and a semi-structured interview of family evaluation. Results. 18 minors consulted; 2 women died, and of the rest, only 8 minors (7 women and 1 man) decided to participate. The poisoning by the ingestion of substances was the most used suicidal method and it was more frequent in women; all had associated mental disease, half had mental retardation. The majority had attention deficit, violent behavior, disocial, criminal, isolation, etc. The predominant psychological characteristics are sexual disturbances, emotional repression, denial of difficult situations and aggressiveness and severe family dysfunction in all cases. Conclusions. The biopsychosocial characteristics found coincide with those described previously in the literature, but additional investigations are required to validate the results. Objetivos. Describir las características biopsicosociales de los menores de 14 años con intento de suicidio, los métodos utilizados, las características psicológicas y la estructura y dinámica de las familias de origen. Materiales y métodos. Estudio clínico descriptivo de menores de 14 años que consulta al Hospital Universitario del Valle por intento suicida en el período octubre 1 de 2001 a septiembre 30 de 2002; cada menor se evaluó con la aplicación de la historia toxicológica o de trauma, historia clínica psiquiátrica, el Child Behavior Checklists (CBCL), prueba de la figura humana y de la familia, la Escala Revisada de Inteligencia de Wechsler para Niños (WISC-R), y una entrevista semi-estructurada de evaluación familiar. Resultados. Consultaron 18 menores de edad; 2 mujeres menores fallecieron y de los restantes, sólo 8 menores (7 mujeres y 1 hombre) aceptaron participar. El envenenamiento autoinfringido por ingestión de sustancias es el método suicida más utilizado