Pune: Savita (name changed to protect identity) was admitted to the YCM hospital in Pimpri about seven days ago with pesticide poisoning. She went on to require mechanical ventilation for three days and after recovering, told doctors she had consumed the liquid by accident, mistaking it for cough syrup. It was only during counselling that she told the truth to the hospital's psychiatrist.
Savita had tried to take her own life. She had had enough of the daily emotional and physical abuse being meted out by her alcoholic husband. An analysis of 325 cases of 'deliberate self-harm' (DSH) reported this year at YCH Hospital has found that ingestion of a harmful liquid, as a way to take one's own life, had significant gender disparity, with more women, mainly married women, using this method, than men.
Social determinants were as important as clinical factors, the study said. The observations are supported by data. According to statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), marriage-related reasons accounted for 8% of suicides among women.
The figure was just 0.8% in men. Experts from YCH Hospital said most of the women they studied had attempted suicide within hours of experiencing sexual abuse, domestic violence or relationship issues so 'depression' alone doesn't explain their actions.
"Most women in the study group, who attempted suicide, were those having different interpersonal conflicts at home, such as altercations with the husband or in-laws. They provided us wit.