A model for assessment of inpatient suicide potential

Psychiatric inpatient suicides have unique characteristics compared with suicides that occur on an outpatient basis. A number of factors play a role in determining whether patients will kill themselves in the hospital. Central to suicide is ambivalence. Several factors influence ambivalence; they include: interactions with professionals, environmental safeguards, biological therapies, and external support as well as the inpatient's perception of these factors. A proposed model is presented as a grounding for further exploration of this process.