Translating despair.
The author reviews two cases of suicide by Spanish-speaking patients who were evaluated and treated by English-speaking psychiatrists using a translator. He suggests that the patient's emotional suffering may be selectively underestimated when the clinician works by means of translation. The diagnosis may emphasize psychotic features of the illness and minimize the affective component; consequently the risk of suicide may be underestimated.
D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D012923:Social Class; D013020:South America / Q000208:ethnology; D013405:Suicide / Q000453:epidemiology; D014175:Translating; D014481:United States; D000092864:Suicide Prevention