Abstract
This paper describes the responses of psychiatry trainees to the suicide of a patient, either their own or a colleague’s, and how these responses may be influenced by the institutional and peer group dynamics. In many ways, residents’ reactions resemble those of seasoned clinicians. However, significant differences were noted which related to the formative nature of their professional identities and their sense of being evaluated by peers and supervisors. Substantive responses to the suicide were noted in the other trainees. Program recommendations are made which may decrease the traumatogenic potential of a suicide and foster personal and professional growth.
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Alan M. Cohen, M.D., Matthew Keats, M.D., and Kevin Turnquist, M.D., were PGYIV- residents at the New York Hospital—Westchester Division at the time of the writing of the paper.
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Sacks, M.H., Kibel, H.D., Cohen, A.M. et al. Resident Response to Patient Suicide. Acad Psychiatry 11, 217–226 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03399978