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Abstract Introduction: Suicide and attempted suicide are mental complex phenomena directed by personal and environmental factors. Among environmental factors, climatic conditions due to seasonal changes might have an impact on both the phenomena. Since, most relevant studies have been conducted within western countries, the aim of the present study was to investigate the seasonal patterns of suicide and attempted suicide within Ilam province. Material & methods: This study used confirmed and attempted suicide data, which have been collected by the systematic registration within Ilam province during 1995 to 2002. In this registration, all suicide and attempted suicide data occurred within the province with their demographic characteristics including age, sex, marital status and the time of incident had been recorded. Findings: During the investigation period, 615 cases of suicide and 1806 cases of attempted suicide took place within Ilam province. The distribution of cases based on their season of occurrence showed that most suicide cases ,191 (31.1%), had happened in spring, whilst most the attempted suicide cases 595 (32.9%) had occurred in summer. These differences were statistically significant. Similarly, in all sub-groups under investigation most suicide cases happened in spring, whilst most attempted suicide cases occurred in summer. Conclusion: Within Ilam province, as proved in many other countries, suicide and attempted suicide have mostly occurred during spring and summer. Apart from the impact of season on the occurrence of these phenomena, the results of this study also suggest that, especially, before spring and summer the health and treatment organizations within the region should have proper programs to deal with this problem.

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Introduction: Intensive studies have been done about the epidemiology and psychological predictors of suicide behavior, but, regarding the treatment, a few controlled investigations have been undertaken. The high suicide rate and attempting it among the adolescents reveal the necessity of remedial measures to be taken. This study has been done to consider the impacts of group problem solving on some psychological characteristics (depression, hopelessness, and coping skills) of adolescents attempting suicide. Materials & Methods: In this research, the impact of problem solving methods was studied as an independent variable on depression, hopelessness and coping skills as dependent variables by an experimental design, using experimental and control groups. The sample consisted of 26 people chosen randomly and divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained in a step by step problem solving program for 12 sessions. The dependent variables were measured by Beck Depression Inventor (BDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and Blingz and Mause Coping Skills Questionnaires (CSQ) before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using T-test. Findings: The results showed no significant difference between the dependent variables of the two groups before the treatment. But after the intervention and performance of the remedial method, there was a significant difference between depression, hopelessness and coping skills variables of the two groups (p<%1). Discussion & Conclusion: According to this investigation, training in problem solving can decrease depression, hopelessness and increase the efficacy in coping skills of adolescents who attemp suicide.