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There you are, evaluating a patient named Pat for discharge from your psychiatric hospital. She was admitted after a suicide attempt. Now, she is better, but she is not completely free of depression symptoms. Even though she says she is not suicidal now, you have to decide how much risk of suicide does she face? How quickly should she be seen after discharge, for example, presuming that you have a range of follow-up options to consider and not just a single standard one? You know the usual risk factors. Pat’s continued depression symptoms are one. According to a 2016 US epidemiologic study published in JAMA Psychiatry , a violent method for the previous attempt, like a gun, was associated with “exceptionally high risk.” But does it make a difference what her diagnosis before admission was? You think “yes”, and you think you know what tops the list.
A new paper
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