Frequently Asked Questions

Patient suicide was a common experience in this sample: 51% of the 96 mental health professionals surveyed said that a patient under their treatment had died by suicide. The study included psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, and mental health nurses practicing or working in India.

A patient's suicide had a substantial emotional impact for many respondents, with around one-third reporting a moderate-to-extreme effect on emotional well-being. Sadness was the most commonly reported emotion, followed by regret and guilt. The authors also found that 34.6% of qualitative responses centered on responsibility and guilt together with reflection on treatment and care.

The emotional effects were most often reported as lasting up to 1 month, with 46.8% of respondents describing effects in that time frame. The study also found that around one-fourth reported ongoing effects lasting up to 6 months or longer, and 17% were described in the discussion as experiencing these effects for as long as 6 months. In addition, 8.5% said they had considered changing their career path as a consequence.

No. Only 27.7% of respondents were mildly comfortable discussing the incident and its impact with colleagues. The authors interpreted this as limited comfort with sharing the experience, consistent with stigma or discomfort around discussing distressing professional events.

Yes. 89.4% of respondents believed the suicide could have been prevented. In the qualitative responses, about 35% said better communication, closer monitoring, and more direct intervention might have changed the outcome, including stronger follow-up, clearer family warning-sign education, greater assertiveness about admission, and in some cases judicious use of restraints.

The most commonly described helpful approach was support seeking, reported by 52.2% of respondents. Participants specifically mentioned support from colleagues, family, the wider professional community, supervision, and personal therapy. Some also described personal reflection, positive reframing, distraction through work, spiritual beliefs, and reassurance from patients' families as helpful.

Support from family, friends, and colleagues was reported as generally adequate, but support from the hospital or organization was largely lacking. The study therefore identified institutional support as a major gap, even when informal personal and peer support was available.

Nearly half of respondents said they would want confidential professional support after such an event. Specifically, 53.1% suggested confidential advice from a senior clinician, and 46.9% suggested a confidential reflective practice group. These responses point to a preference for structured, private, professionally informed support rather than relying only on informal coping.

Yes. All respondents agreed on the importance of training in managing the impact of patient suicide, and around 80% said this topic should be included in postgraduate curriculum, workshops, and seminars. However, only 11.5% felt that existing training in India was extremely effective, suggesting a gap between perceived need and current preparation.

This was a mixed-methods survey study of 96 mental health professionals in India conducted online over 8 weeks from September to October 2023 using purposive sampling. The questionnaire included structured items and open-ended questions, and the qualitative responses were analyzed thematically. Because the study used a retrospective survey, had a small sample, and did not equally represent all mental health professional groups, its findings are useful for understanding reported experiences and support needs but should be interpreted with those limitations in mind.

The authors identified several key limitations: a small sample size, unequal representation of different mental health professional groups, and potential recall bias related to the retrospective design. These limitations mean the findings may not fully capture the experiences of all clinician groups or the full range of long-term effects.