A Repertory Grid Study of the Meaning and Consequences of a Suicidal Act

Abstract

Maddison and Mackey, in their review article “Suicide, the Clinical Problem” (1966), emphasize “the interpersonal significance of suicide, a viewpoint which is complementary and not alternative to an intensive study of the patient's intrapsychic life.” They continue: “More than usual attention needs to be given to the specially significant individual to whom the suicidal patient is often ambivalently bound in a symbiotic relationship, for highly relevant psychopathology will very frequently be found in this person …”.