Psychiatric resident suicide: an analysis of five cases

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.