Psychosocial evalution for prevalence of suicidial ideations in patients of somatoform disorders visiting psychosomatic clinic in tertiary care centre, vidarbha

Introduction: Somatoform disorders are a group of psychiatric disorders in which patients present with clinically significant but unexplained physical symptoms. These disorders often cause significant emotional distress for patients and are a challenge to physicians. Somatization disorder was significantly associated with suicide attempts. Material and Methods: 270 patients with a diagnosis of any of the sub types of somatoform disorders were inducted from those attending the out-patient and in- patient services of deptt. Of Psychiatry affiliated to AVBRH, a tertiary care hospital, Vidarbha. It was a cross-sectional study carried out from October 2010 to July 2012. The Beck’s Suicide intent scale was used for diagnosis of suicidial ideations. Results: A total of 18 patients showed the varied intensity of suicidal ideations wherein 2.96% showed low suicide intent; 1.48% showed high suicidal intent. Almost equal number i.e. (n=6 out of 18, 33.3%) of persistant somatoform pain disorder showed highest propensity for suicidality. Conclusion: Somatoform disored(s) represents an independent risk factor for suicidal behavior. The potential for suicide in patients with somatoform disorder (s) should not be overlooked.