A study of suicide in state mental hospitals in New York City

Suicides at five state hospitals for the mentally-ill located in NYC were studied over a 32 month period. The suicide rates at the individual hospitals appeared to be primarily related to the acuteness of inpatient population and secondarily to the socioeconomic-ethnic characteristics of the inpatient population. White young Puerto Rican male, better educated female involuntarily committed, schizophrenic, and affective disordered patients were overrepresented in the suicide group; black patients were underrepresented. From clinical data two profiles of psychiatric inpatients at high risk for suicide were constructed; 1) a male paranoid schizophrenic with previous suicide attempts involuntarily committed due to acute psychosis who hangs himself in his room or bathroom during the first weeks of hospitalization; 2) a chronic undifferentiated schizophrenic often with affective component who has been hospitalized for more than one month and who is considered by staff to be improving, but is having difficulty with discharge planning who commits suicide by jumping while out of the hospital on an authorized pass. Recommendations were made for reducing inpatient suicides.