As a psychiatrist who has lost not only patients but also family members to suicide, I appreciate the hole in the soul these deaths create. I understand the drive to find ways to prevent additional deaths and save future survivors from such grief. But we must design psychiatric interventions that do the maximum good. To be imprecise in the lessons we learn from those who have killed themselves doubles down on the disservice to those lives already lost.
Dr. Kruse is a psychiatrist who practices in San Francisco. Several key details about the patients were changed to protect confidentiality.
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