High-intent suicide and the Beck's Suicide Intent Scale: a case report.

Abstract

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Some acts of suicide are recognized as impulsive (low-planned) behavior; while others are characterized by having signs of serious intent and planning (intermediate or high-planned) acts. Women and younger individuals are more likely to carry out low- and intermediate-planned than high-planned acts of suicide. The Beck's Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) is a semi-structured, interviewer administered assessment scale consisting of 15 items. The scale consists of 2 sections, the first of which is objective, and in the second section, subjective characteristics of the suicide attempt are evaluated. SIS scores obtained are classified as: 10 points "low- intent", 10-15 points "intermediate- intent", and >15 points "high- intent" suicides.