Le suicide à l'hôpital psychiatrique

Suicide in the psychiatric hospital A patient’s suicide during hospitalisation is the major accident in psychiatry. It is rare but not exceptional. The hospital psychiatrist is exposed to the accusation of not having done everything to protect his patient when a sui cide has occurred. The difficulty of predicting a suicide in the short term, like the fact that the majority of suicides occur outside the hospital, is well known, and clinical experience frequently shows a clinical improvement in the days preceding the suicide. Hospitalisation in a closed unit is sometimes contemplated. However, no study has been able to establish that such a measure serves to reduce the suicide rate. Numerous authors attest, on the other hand, that the use of restraint and confinement increase distress, and consider that the use of closed units may be detrimental to the establishment and maintenance of the therapeutic relationship.