Mdedge Psychcast

Lorenzo Norris, MD, interviews Nina J. Gutin, PhD, a psychologist with a private practice in Pasadena, Calif., about losing patients and loved ones to suicide. Dr. Gutin wrote two evidence-based reviews on the topic late last year. The reviews were published in Current Psychiatry. *  *  *   Take-home points When mental health clinicians lose a patient to suicide, the sequelae can include stigma, potential legal consequences, impact on future clinical work, and restraints on processing the loss because of confidentiality concerns. The American Association of Suicidology founded the Clinician Survivor Task Force (CSTF), which provides consultation, support, and education to mental health professionals to help them respond to the personal/professional loss from the suicide of a patient or loved one. Mental health institutions can benefit from protocols on how to respond to a potential completed suicide, so clinicians and families are not left in a vacuum of uncertainty and blame. After a patient suicide, clinic