Suicide as a coping skill

One of my clients who had terminated therapy approximately 5 weeks ago to go see her developmentally disabled son's therapist committed suicide...When I first heard, I was in shock because she had been doing relatively well the last month of therapy...I even thought that maybe her restraining-order-violating ex-husband or stalker ex-boyfriend might have killed her (the first stage of a grief reaction is denial), but apparently she waited until her children were with her ex for the weekend and ended her life. It caused me a lot of introspection regarding how well I do therapy and even whether I should consider focusing mainly on psychological assessments, but I have finally come to terms with it. Also, it is sad to say, her life was so chaotic, stressful, lacking in social support, full of hateful exes, and full of social programs that did something, but just not enough, that from her perspective her suicide made sense. I guess that is why it is beneficial to have a therapist, friend or family member who can commiserate but also inspire a vision of something more than the present. Her life would have likely continued to be the living hell it was for at least 5-6 more years, but one or two small changes might have relieved the pressure just enough that she could have stuck it out. I realize there are things that she could have done differently to cope, but in her mind I am sure that she viewed the suicide as the ultimate coping mechanism. I was saddened though because even though she was fragile in some ways, she seemed to be an extremely patient and resilient woman in other ways.

I had to do her discharge summary today, and there is something hollow about discharging someone from therapy who is no longer living. It is sobering to see the "Reason for Discharge" as "Died." I have spoken with others re: her passing and realize that the best I can do is to try and learn a lesson from this experience. Examine if there is anything I could have done differently as a therapist. And realize that ultimately it was her choice to end her life. I just hope she is in a better place, and that she will eventually find the peace she so desperately sought after during her temporal existence.