[Suicide attempts in children. Follow-up in picture figures]

This is a report on 15 children who, after having committed acts of taking their own lives voluntarily and intentionally, were admitted, between 1971 and 1974, to the Pediatric Clinic of Neuropsychiatry, Brandenburg District Mental Hospital. The number of boys (10) was greater than the number of girls (5). Fourteen children were at the age of puberty (i.e., between 12 and 15), while only one child was under 10. A brief description is given of the various causes of suicidal acts committed by children. The children's personalities are also described. All of the patients, right from the start of impatient treatment, were included in a program of drawing and painting in addition to the medical and psychotherapeutic treatment given to them. For this creative activity, a studio was made available where the children, in the presence of the therapeutist, could make drawings or pictures with paints. The explanations given by the patients of their respective drawings or pictures were carefully recorded by the therapeutist. The pictures made by two patients, who had made several attempts upon their own lives, are presented along with the explanations given by them. One of the boys is a child who had been in an educational establishment for many years, while the other boy came from an orderly family. Regarding the therapeutical drawing and painting program it can be said that this nonverbal form of expression results in the children becoming physically and psychically relaxed, making them willing to freely explain the contents of their drawings and pictures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)