Nine Psychiatric Inpatients who Leaped from a Height *

Abstract

The authors describe nine psychiatric inpatients from the same hospital who leaped from a height. Common features included youth, social isolation, diagnosis of schizophrenia, and chronic psychosis despite neuroleptic therapy. All had prolonged hospitalizations and a history of assaults, suicide attempts, or both. The authors suggest that these characteristics in conjunction with a recent change in hospital treatment plan or loss of social sup-ports may identify patients at high-risk for violent self-destructive acts.