Identified clinical characteristics of self-poisoning among emergency department patients in Baghdad. 58 15-59 yr old patients with self-poisoning who attended the emergency department of University Hospital (Saddam College of Medicine) over a 4-mo period were studied. Results show that the rate of self-poisoning was 8.8/1,000 total emergency cases. The act was most common among patients who were female, under age 30 yrs (70.7%), single (48%), employed (36%), highly educated (48%) and urban dwellers. Patients were equally distributed among socio-economic states. Psychotropic drugs were the most frequent ingested substances (48.2%) followed by non-ingestant chemicals. Two patients died. Most of the patients had no previous overdose, low rate of suicidal intent (14%), high impulsivity (78%) and high rate (53.5%) of family problems. Tension reduction was the main motive. Only a quarter of the patients were referred to a psychiatrist. Parasuicide with self-poisoning is seen as an important public health problem that needs attention by health and law authorities to control the risk of suicide. Psychiatric assessment is recommended for every self-poisoner.