Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132:402-406
Copyright © 1975 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric resident suicide: an analysis of five cases
RO Pasnau and AT Russell
The authors present case histories of five psychiatric residents in a large
metropolitan area who committed suicide during an 11-year period. Although
they found no single precipitant or predictor, they noted striking
similarities in the cases, including a high incidence of psychopathology
manifested in marital problems, absence of close personal relationships,
previous psychotherapy, drug and/or alcohol abuse, etc. The authors suggest
an interaction of personal, peer, and institutional factors as casual in
all of these suicides and recommend such improvements in residency programs
as providing individual faculty preceptors for each resident and
facilitating psychotherapy for troubled residents.
