RESUMO
Worldwide, deliberate self-poisoning is recognized as a major public health problem with a significant morbidity. In the recent years, there has been growing interest in the contribution of cognitive factors to the etiology of suicidal behaviors. The aim of this study was to determine cognitive profile of self- poisoning suicide attempters. The study was conducted at Alexandria Poison Center in the Main University Hospital. The subjects of the study comprised 200 suicide attempters. Battery of psychometric tests that are; Suicide Intention Scale[SIS], Hopelessness Scale [HS], Negative Automatic Thought Questionnaire [NATQ], and General Locus of control [GLO] were used to collect the data through conducting the interview method on an individual basis. Results of the present study revealed that suicide attempters who had high intention to die were having more hopelessness, helplessness, low self-esteem and external locus of control than those who had not. However, only feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and death orientation were independent cognitive predictors of high suicidal intention