Veinticinco años de investigación sobre suicidio en la Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente
- Autores: Alberto Jiménez Tapia, Catalina González Forteza
- Localización: Salud mental, ISSN 0185-3325, Vol. 26, Nº. 6, 2003, págs. 35-36
- Idioma: español
- Enlaces
- Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
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Resumen
- español
El suicidio es un problema multifactorial que sigue un curso más o menos definido, con diferentes instancias y categorías de análisis. Además, en algunos casos, sus objetivos son diferentes a la pérdida de la vida como tal, pues la meta puede ser llamar la atención, acabar con el sufrimiento o vengarse de alguna figura de autoridad.
En México, el suicidio es un problema de salud pública, ya que, según los registros de la Secretaría de Salud, las tasas de mortalidad por esta causa han aumentado en los últimos años. El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer una revisión de los artículos enfocados sobre la problemática suicida que han sido publicados por investigadores de la Dirección de Investigaciones Epidemiológicas y Psicosociales (DIEP), durante los últimos 25 años. Esto proporciona una perspectiva general sobre los temas, las áreas y las unidades de análisis que han recibido mayor atención durante este periodo en el INPRF. La discusión se enfoca hacia lo que se ha desarrollado hasta el momento y los aspectos del fenómeno que aún quedan por estudiarse.
El trabajo realizado fue de recopilación y análisis descriptivo de los artículos publicados por los investigadores de la DIEP. La búsqueda del material se realizó en la base de referencias bibliográficas del Centro de Información en Salud Mental y Adicciones (CISMAD).Se obtuvieron todos los documentos en que el suicidio, el intento de suicidio y la ideación suicida se consideraron como variables de interés. Una vez obtenidos, se revisaron a partir de diferentes aspectos que se consideró podrían brindar una perspectiva breve del estudio en cada caso (año, autores, título, lugar en que se obtuvieron los datos, temática, población, enfoque y variables e instrumentos empleados). Asimismo, se elaboró un cuadro de resumen en que se resaltan los grupos de autores formados en diferentes épocas, la temática suicida de la que más se ocuparon, el tipo de población hacia la que se enfocaron, el énfasis primordial de sus escritos y la cantidad de publicaciones.
Como el suicido no es un asunto sencillo, los trabajos que lo abordan deben tener en consideración la importancia de identificar, con la mayor amplitud posible, todas las circunstancias y aspectos relacionados con el fenómeno. Para los investigadores de la DIEP, éste ha constituido una línea de investigación muy productiva en los últimos 25 años.
En la investigación realizada hasta el momento se han abordado las diferentes dimensiones implicadas en el suicidio. Así, se han estudiado el suicidio consumado, el intento de suicidio y la ideación suicida en adultos y adolescentes, mujeres y hombres de población abierta y estudiantil. Sin embargo, queda todavía pendiente el trabajo en poblaciones infantiles y en poblaciones ocultas. Asimismo, sería importante incluir en los diseños la perspectiva de género como un elemento relevante que permita una explicación y comprensión más completas de las semejanzas y diferencias entre hombres y mujeres. Además, se debe tener en cuenta la consideración de pasar de la investigación descriptiva a la evaluativa, que nos permita entrar al campo de la prevención primaria (con la identificación de factores protectores) y secundaria (a través de la identificación de factores de riesgo).
- English
Suicide is a multi-factorial problem with a fairly well-defined course, with different forms and categories of analysis and in some cases, objectives other than the mere loss of life. The goal is sometimes to attract attention, end suffering or take revenge on an authority figure.
In Mexico, suicide is a public health problem since, according to the Health Secretariat reports, mortality rates due to this cause have increased in recent years.
The importance of the problem as a trigger factor in early deaths requires research that will shed light on the elements that give rise to it, in order to design intervention and prevention strategies that will help to reduce its consequences.
The aim of this study is to provide a review of articles focusing on the problem of suicide published by researchers at the Head Offices of Epidemiological and Psychosocial Research (in Spanish:
DIEP) over the past twenty-five years. This will provide an overview of the themes, areas and units of analysis that have received most attention during this period at the Ramón de la Fuente National Institute of Psychiatry (INPRF). The discussion focuses on what has been developed to date as well as on aspects of the phenomenon that have yet to be studied.
The study involved compiling and providing a descriptive analysis of articles published by DIEP researchers. The search for material was undertaken on the basis of bibliographic references from the Center for Information on Mental Health and Addictions (CISMAD). All the documents in which suicide, suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts were considered variables of interest were located. Once these had been obtained, they were reviewed on the basis of various aspects which, it was felt, could provide a brief perspective of the study in each case (year, authors, title, place where data were obtained, subject matter, population, focus, and variables and instruments used). A chart was drawn up with the groups of authors trained at different times, the aspect of suicide with which they were most concerned, the type of population they focused on, the main emphasis of their writings and the number of publications.
Results show that between 1982 and 2003, DIEP researchers published 56 articles in which the issue of suicide had been included, either as the main variable of interest or as a secondary variable. Sixty-six per cent of the latter were undertaken using data from different types of population in Mexico City; 23% drew on information from representative samples or national sources, while 11% were based on subjects or sources from elsewhere.
As for the subject or area of interest regarding suicide in each article, 30% of the studies concentrated on suicidal thoughts;
23% on suicide attempts; 16% on suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts; 13% on suicides actually committed and suicide attempts; 9% on suicides actually committed; 5% on suicides committed, suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts, while 4% focused on suicidal behavior in general at the epidemiological level.
As for the units of analysis used in each case, 34% focused on teenagers, 29% on adults, 21% on documentary records, 11% on teenagers and adults, and 5% on children. All the articles reviewed utilized a psychosocial or an epidemiological approach or both.
Five fairly well-defined groups were identified of researchers that have dealt with the problem of suicide from different perspectives and for different reasons. In most cases, attention focused on the problem of suicide, and in certain other cases, suicide-related issues were analyzed collaterally, since the article focused mainly on other phenomena.
The first group was trained in the 1980s. Its main interest lay in suicides actually committed and in suicide attempts, which were analyzed in hospital settings with adult populations.
The second group, which worked between 1991 and 1994, focused on the relationship between suicide attempts and alcohol consumption in adults admitted to hospital emergency rooms.
The third group had two phases of work, the first was between 1994 and 1995, and the second in 1998. It focused mainly on junior high and high school students using surveys on substance abuse, in addition to surveys on psychiatric disorders on adults among the general population, in which suicidal thoughts were included tangentially The fourth group, which undertook research between 1995 and 2001, was interested in suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts in teenagers and adults in the general population and emergency rooms.
The last group has worked since 1994. Its main field of interest has been the problem of suicide (whether actual attempts or merely thoughts) among teenage junior and senior high school students.
Suicide is by no means an easy subject. Articles dealing with it must be aware of the importance of accurately identifying the circumstances and aspects related to the phenomenon. For DIEP researchers, this has proved to be an extremely fruitful line of research over the past 25 years.
Research undertaken to date has dealt with the various aspects involved in suicide. It has studied suicides actually committed, suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts among adults and teenagers and men and women among the general and student population.
However, work still remains to be done on child populations and hidden populations. It would also be useful to include the gender perspective in research project designs as a means of shedding light on the similarities and differences between men and women.
The possibility of moving from descriptive to evaluative research should also be considered, since this would enable one to enter the field of primary prevention (through the identification of protective factors) and secondary prevention (through the identification of risk factors).
- español
