A spate of copycat attempted suicides at a psychiatric unit in a Dublin hospital may have led to one young woman taking her own life as she succumbed to peer pressure, an inquest has heard.
The 24-year-old woman was found by a psychiatric nurse hanging from a bed sheet tied around the headboard of her bed at the Jonathan Swift psychiatric unit at St James's Hospital on June 6th, 2005.
Dr Brian Fitzmaurice, consultant psychologist at the hospital, told Dublin City Coroner's Court that the night before she hanged herself, another patient at the unit had attempted to hang himself but was rescued by staff.
In the days following her death, another patient attempted to hang himself but was rescued and two other patients expressed a strong desire to end their lives in this way. Dr Fitzmaurice said there was a "degree of copycat attitude" among "a subset of four patients".
"Quite often, there is peer pressure to demonstrate how serious you are. [ These patients] had meals together and sat in the smoking room together. This might have pushed [ her] into considering making an attempt . . . It's very difficult to de-escalate that type of situation. It's indicative that the patients were responding to each other."
Dr Fitzmaurice also told the court that the woman may not have seriously intended to take her own life.
"The rapid rescue of the patient who attempted to hang himself may have given her false reassurance . . . unfortunately we will never know if it was a clear intention to end her own life," he added.
A jury returned an open verdict on her death. Jurors also recommended that the psychiatric unit at the hospital increase staff presence in the ward while staff changeover takes place.
The court heard that the woman and the patient who attempted suicide the day before her death had done so while a changeover between staff took place.
She had been under special observation two days before her death but this observation ended.
On the day of her death, she told staff she "wanted to go home and hang herself", according to Dr Fitzmaurice, but it was believed that she no longer had suicidal intentions after she spoke to a doctor and her mood was thought to have improved.
The woman was a patient at St James's psychiatric unit on various occasions since 2002. She suffered from clinical depression and other psychiatric problems. She had attempted suicide on several occasions while a patient at the hospital and at her home.