Over one-quarter of psychologists and psychiatrists will lose a client to suicide, and the impact of suicide on therapists is profound. Therapists report both personal (e.g., emotional) and professional (e.g., fears of litigation, doubts about competency) reactions to client suicide, and these reactions are thought to be especially pronounced for therapists-in-training. However, little is known about the effect of nonsuicidal client deaths on therapists, especially how the experience of a client suicide might compare with other forms of unanticipated client death, such as accidental injuries (e.g., car accidents) or deaths of undetermined intent. An article published in a recent issue of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice reviews family members' bereavement responses based on differential death classification, as well as therapist reactions to suicidal deaths. A case study of undetermined death is also described in light of the extant literature on therapists' coping responses to suicide, including reflections on emotional and professional implications to a nonsuicidal death. A recent social psychological model of adaptation to emotional experiences (Wilson & Gilbert, 2008) was used as a theoretical framework to discuss how death by suicide may be construed in comparison to undifferentiated and/or accidental deaths, with a focus on informing sorely needed future research in this area.
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