Duration of suicide process among suicide attempters and characteristics of those providing window of opportunity for intervention.

The median time for the suicidal process was 30 min (interquartile range of 5 min to 120 min). Seventy-five (23.5%) subjects belonged to the fourth quartile (duration of suicide process >120 min). A significant proportion of them came from urban areas (P = 0.011), had a diagnosis of mood disorder (P = 0.028), had visited a health professional in the recent past (P = 0.015), and had lower rates of attempt under intoxication (P = 0.005). A lesser proportion of them showed problem-focused disengagement style of coping strategy (P = 0.015).

The suicide process time among Indian suicide attempters is short. However, a quarter of them has suicide process duration of 2 h which provides some scope for intervention. Individual and community level interventions need further evaluation for their potential efficacy in preventing the progress of the suicidal process.