Citation

Hendin H, Haas AP, Maltsberger JT, Szanto K, Rabinowicz H. Am. J. Psychiatry 2004; 161(8): 1442-1446.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, American Psychiatric Association)

DOI

10.1176/appi.ajp.161.8.1442

PMID

15285971

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Factors contributing to therapists' severe distress after the suicide of a patient were investigated.
METHOD: Therapists for 34 patients who died by suicide completed a semistructured questionnaire about their reactions, wrote case narratives, and participated in a workshop.
RESULTS: Thirteen of the 34 therapists were severely distressed. Four factors were identified as sources of severe distress: failure to hospitalize an imminently suicidal patient who then died, a treatment decision the therapist felt contributed to the suicide, negative reactions from the therapist's institution, and fear of a lawsuit by the patient's relatives. Although one emotion was sometimes dominant in the therapist's response to the suicide, severely distressed therapists, compared to others, reported a significantly larger number of intense emotional states.
CONCLUSIONS: Over one-third of therapists who experienced a patient's suicide were found to suffer severe distress, pointing to the need for further study of the long-term effects of patient suicide on professional practice.

Language: en

Keywords

Adult; Attitude of Health Personnel; Attitude to Death; Attitude to Health; Cause of Death; Decision Making; Depressive Disorder; Fear; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Liability, Legal; Male; Middle Aged; Professional-Family Relations; Professional-Patient Relations; Psychotherapy; Severity of Illness Index; Stress Disorders, Traumatic; Stress, Psychological; Suicide; Surveys and Questionnaires