Psychiatric Effects of Exposure to Suicide Among the Friends and Acquaintances of Adolescent Suicide Victims

58 friends & acquaintances of 10 adolescent suicide victims were interviewed 6 months after the suicide, & the rates of psychiatric disorders that had onset after the death were compared with the 6-month incidence of psychopathology in 58 matched controls. The exposed group showed higher rates of any new onset major depressive disorder. Adolescent friends & acquaintances experience considerable psychiatric morbidity subsequent to exposure to suicide, most consistent with pathological grief.