A fine-grained study of inpatients who commit suicide

As previously reported in a larger sample,16 standard risk assessments and standard precautions were of limited value in protecting this additional sample from suicide. Adding symptom severity to our assessments, particularly severity of anxiety and agitation, and following these assessments over time may help identify those patients at acute risk of suicide. This may also suggest more effective interventions. To see if these patients can be blindly discriminated from a sample of inpatients who do not commit suicide, the importance of a matched comparison group is clear. Additional assessment of the possible relationship of suicide to psychiatric medication would be further clarified by an evaluation of the entire sample of 88 patients.