SYNOPSIS
Inpatient suicides (twelve cases) in a private psychiatric hospital between 1882 and 1968 are studied as to age, sex, marital status, diagnosis, time in hospital, stage of illness, physical health, previous threats, previous attempts and method of suicide. They are also divided into a pre-1947 group, when the hospital was primarily custodial, and a post-1947 group, when the hospital became an active treatment unit.
Known ex-patient suicides (forty-nine cases) in the post-1947 era are discussed under similar categories and compared both with a matched control group and with the inpatient suicides.
Special mention is made of suicides in patients with personality disorders.