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The Management and Mismanagement of a Suicidal Patient

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ps.27.6.411

The author begins with the premise that the actions of therapists and hospital staff can contribute to the likelihood that a suicidal patient will eventually take his life. He recounts a case history of a depressed 51-year-old man who was hospitalized following a suicide attempt and delineates eight "mistakes" that contributed to the patient's eventual suicide and that are common occurrences in dealing with a suicidal patient. He believes that if more therapists and mental health professionals share mistakes and experiences of this kind with each other, such errors might be minimized or even prevented.

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