A suicide epidemic in a psychiatric hospital.

There were 3 suicides on one ward of a psychiatric hospital in 6 months, and no others in the hospital in 10 years. Statistics demonstrate that this was probably not due to a chance change in the patient population, and deteriorating therapy conditions may have been responsible. The hospital staff was very uncertain about treatment goals and techniques at that time, and resident supervision suffered. Associated specific treatment errors are revealed in the 3 case histories. The epidemic ended after the re-institution of firm supervision of basic psychiatric care directed toward clearly-defined treatment goals.