Serious Overdosers Admitted to a General Hospital: Comparison With Nonoverdose Self-Injuries and Medically ill Patients With Suicidal Ideation

207 consecutively admitted, serious overdose patients were studied. They were compared with 53 non-overdose self-injury cases & 79 medical/surgical patients with suicidal ideation who were routinely referred for consultation during the same 2-year period. The attempters were younger than the ideation patients. The overdose group was predominantly female. Similar to previous reports, prior psychiatric contact was high in all groups. Attempter groups were more similar to each other than the ideation patients. Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for Axis I disorders in suicidal general hospital patients, though female borderline patients are particularly associated with the serious overdose method. (15 refs.)