Year: 1998 Source: Journal of Personal and Interpersonal Loss, v.3, no.2, (April-June 1998), p.161-165 SIEC No: 19990085

Lokhandwala & Westefeld’s article (see SIEC #990084) highlighting the ethical dilemma in rational suicide raises the pragmatic question of how one would actually assess a client’s situation. A particularly relevant diagnosis that should be ruled out is clinical depression. Reviewing the 9 criteria for a diagnosis of clinical depression might be a good way to explore the possibility of clinical depression in a terminally ill person who is supposedly making a rational decision to commit suicide.