Survey of Suicide Among Psychoanalysts and Candidates*

It is a perplexing paradox that analysts and candidates who are trained to understand human emotional life should commit suicide. A number of studies1-3 have documented that physicians are especially prone to suicide, with psychiatrists cited as having the highest rate. This altter finding has been critcized by Rose and Rosow,4 who agree that while physicians' suicide rates are twice those of the general population, psychiatrists are not more prone to suicide than other medical specialists. To the best of my knowledge, no study has been reported on suicide by psychoanalysts. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a survey of suicide and suicide attempts by psychoanalysts and candidates who are graduates of, or students at the institutes approved for training by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Because of the difficulties in collecting accurate data about suicide, this survey must be regarded not as a definitive statement of the problem, but rather as an estimate which may help us to know more about ourselves.

Twenty-nine questionnaires were sent to presidents of the 29 affiliate societies, and 21 to the education committee chairmen of all the approved training institutions of the American Psychoanalytic Association, as listed in the 1971-1973 roster of the American Psychoanalytic Association. The presidents were instructed to answer for the society members, and the chairmen were to reply for the institute candidates. Because of the obvious need to maintain confidentiality