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Please add those who died by deliberately poisoning themselves.
This does not include an accidental inhalation or overdose of drugs or alcohol.
An intentional self-poisoning is swallowing, inhaling, touching, or injecting various drugs, chemicals, or gases with the purpose of harming yourself. Fatal intentional self-poisonings are categorized as suicide deaths. Nonfatal intentional self-poisonings are also referred to as intentional self-harm by poisoning, intentional poisoning, or intentional overdose (when a drug is used). Nonfatal intentional self-poisonings may or may not be a suicide attempt.
While most self-poisonings are due to drugs in Vermont, selfpoisonings can also include gases like carbon monoxide, or chemicals like antifreeze.
Deaths due to intentional self-poisoning are the third most common means of suicide in Vermont, accounting for 16% of suicide deaths on average (17 deaths per year).
Self-poisoning is one of the most common methods observed in suicide attempts and self-harm. A suicide attempt is a self-inflicted act with the intent to end one's life, and is distinguishable from self-harm. Self-harm refers to a self-inflicted, potentially injurious behaviour for which there is evidence that the person had no intent to die (Silverman, et al., 2007). A self-poisoning episode is defined as the self-exposure of an individual to an amount of a substance associated with significant potential to cause harm. The term ‘self-poisoning’ has been used to refer to a type of self-harm without suicide intent as well as a method of attempted suicide with some intent to die (Cambridge, et al., 2003; Hawton, et al., 2003).
According to data collected from emergency departments at hospitals, self-poisoning accounts for 67% of attempted suicides and self-inflicted injuries in the United States (Ting, et al., 2012), 78% of non-fatal self-harm episodes in the United Kingdom (Bergen, et al., 2010), and 86% of deliberate self-harm episodes in Sweden (Bilen, et al., 2011).
Several interventions have been developed to specifically target self-poisoning patients. These include postcard interventions (Carter, et al., 2005; Carter, et al., 2007; Carter, et al., 2013; Hassanian-Moghaddam, et al., 2011), a telephone-based intervention (Vaiva, et al., 2006), and a brief psychological intervention (Guthrie, et al., 2001). Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these interventions is unclear, and inconsistencies in methodologies and designs across studies make comparisons difficult (Supplemental Table 1).
Against this backdrop, the present study aimed to determine whether an assertive case management intervention reduced suicidal behaviour in self-poisoning patients as a secondary analysis of the ACTION-J study (Hirayasu, et al., 2009; Kawanishi, et al., 2014; Furuno, et al., 2018).