The Increase of Suicides in Psychiatric Hospitals in Southwestern Germany According to Diagnostic Subgroups

This study examined the suicide rates of psychiatric inpatients in 4 state mental hospitals in Germany from 1970 to 1984. The authors found a significant increase of hospital suicides at the end of the 70s, & the beginning of the 80s. A subgroup of schizophrenic inpatients – particularly male patients with the ICD-9 diagnosis for paranoid-schizophrenia – were found to have a significantly higher rate than other patients. Depressives also had a slightly higher rate. (VM)