[Suicide in psychiatric therapy: problem sketch and consequences for forensic psychiatry evaluation]

Suicidal modes of behaviour are discussed in their forensic-psychiatric aspects, and the problems of a typical case are presented as an example. As in other medical disciplines, questions of recognizability and correct treatment of pathological disorders are of particular interest from the legal point of view. The analysis of suicidal modes of behaviour in larger populations can admittedly demonstrate more or less typical patterns, but reliable parameters for individual prognosis are not available. For this reason, suicidal tendencies in the individual are in principle not recognizable. A standard psychiatric therapy with guaranteed success does not exist. We draw attention to the particular responsibility for accurate documentation of each case history.