Observations on double suicide: review of the literature and two case reports

This article reviews the literature on double suicide and presents two cases: a suicide pact between two young women, and a pact between an older married couple. The cases are unique in that all four participants were in psychotherapy prior to their successful suicides, thus making antecedent histories available for review. Using these two detailed cases and two other cases reported in the literature, some general observations on the psychodynamics of suicide pacts are discussed.