Gender, Suicide, and the Sociocultural Context of Deliberate Self-Harm in an Urban General Hospital in Mumbai, India

This study clarifies the role of gender in suicidal behaviour in urban Mumbai by considering psychiatric diagnoses & patient-identified sociocultural features. The study included 92 women & 104 men. A diagnosis of depressive disorder was made for 48.9% of women & 39.4% of men. Many patients did not fulfill the criteria for any diagnosis, or did so only for an adjustment disorder or a V-code. Men typically explained deliberate self-harm with reference to work problems, financial problems, & problem drinking. Women typically discussed domestic problems, in-law relations, & victimization. Social & situational factors appear to play a relatively greater role than psychiatric illness in self-harm & suicide in Mumbain compared with Europe & North America. (51 refs.)