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Suicide in Doctors

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Suicide Risk Assessment and Prevention

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Abstract

Completed suicide is among the leading causes of death worldwide. Globally, it accounts for more annual deaths than natural disasters, violence inflicted by others, war, and conflict combined. High occupational completed suicide rates are often linked to factors such as easy access to a method of suicide, social isolation at work, the natural selection of high-risk people to certain occupations, and socioeconomic forces. Physicians and other healthcare workers are considered a high-risk suicide group, and suicide risk seems to be higher for male and female physicians than the general population. Beyond that, the suicide risk appears to be present throughout the entire medical career. The aim of this chapter is to review the epidemiology of suicidality in physicians, risk factors related to suicidal behavior in physicians, suicide risk assessment, and suicide prevention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil

    Tiago Castro e Couto

  2. Department of Forensic Medicine and Psychiatry, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

    Sarah Cristina Zanghellini Rückl

  3. University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sarah Cristina Zanghellini Rückl

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Dante Duarte

  5. UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Humberto Correa

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  1. Tiago Castro e Couto
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  2. Sarah Cristina Zanghellini Rückl
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  3. Dante Duarte
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  4. Humberto Correa
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Correspondence to Humberto Correa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant’Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Maurizio Pompili

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Couto, T.C.e., Rückl, S.C.Z., Duarte, D., Correa, H. (2022). Suicide in Doctors. In: Pompili, M. (eds) Suicide Risk Assessment and Prevention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42003-1_29

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