From early on in my quest to understand the unique challenges mental health professionals face in working with patients at risk for suicide, I’ve wondered aloud about the things that make us the most nervous. I’m still working my way through a list of questions I posted based on my notes from a series of [...]
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New on the Web: Suicide Prevention News and Comment
January 9, 2009
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Franklin Cook has started a suicide prevention news blog that looks very promising. Suicide Prevention News and Comment (SPNAC) is still young– less than a month old–but already has some valuable information and insights. As the site’s name suggests, most of the posts (several each week) are stimulated by news in the suicide prevention [...]
Read moreSpeaking of nomenclature…what about “protective factors”?
October 23, 2008
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Speaking of nomenclature, I’m increasingly growing mistrustful of the term “protective factors.” It sounds very “evidence-based” to refer to “risk and protective factors” when discussing one’s approach to risk assessment. However, I’ve noticed a subtle misunderstanding that has creeped in along with the popularity of these terms. Often, it sounds like some clinicians are thinking [...]
Read moreA better term for “high risk”?
October 22, 2008
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At a recent workshop I presented, a senior colleague commented that our clinical vernacular needs a more apt phrase than “high risk” to describe individuals whose clinical and historical presentation suggests risk for suicide. “High risk for suicide,” he pointed out, sounds like suicide is probable, when in fact the likelihood of suicide in [...]
Read moreClinical reflections on Army’s approach in interactive suicide prevention video
October 22, 2008
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A colleague pointed me to a Washington Post article describing an interactive suicide prevention video the Army has produced and will make mandatory for all soldiers. I experimented with the online demo of Beyond the Front, which shows scenes from the life two soldiers and allows the viewer to make choices that either lead toward [...]
Read moreDescription of Golden Gate Bridge Barrier
October 21, 2008
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My last two posts focused on means restriction–the aim of preventing suicide by reducing a person’s access to a quick and lethal suicide method. The Golden Gate Bridge Physical Suicide Deterrent Project has been a highly publicized (and controversial) state effort to determine out the best way to balance the imperative of saving lives [...]
Read moreResource re: means restriction in practice
September 22, 2008
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I’ve had a nice response to the brief commentary I posted in conjunction with a link to the NY Times article about means restriction. In light of that, I thought I’d post a link to the a site called Means Matter, which is published by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center. The site has summary [...]
Read moreMeans restriction and impulsivity in fantastic NY Times piece
September 8, 2008
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I have mentioned quite a few NY Times articles in this blog because I think they cover suicide really well. Last month they published a piece in the NY Times Magazine that I keep recommending to people in informal and clinical discussions, so I thought I’d link to it here. Many thanks to my colleague [...]
Read more“Trusting” a person at risk who agrees to transport self
September 2, 2008
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A colleague forwarded me the following excellent question posted to a listserv: One question that has been raised is how to handle an individual who reports willingness to voluntarily go to the ER for psychiatric assessment. Since trusting a questionably unstable and suicidal individual to present for treatment opens our agency and the patient up [...]
Read moreTeaching and learning at New York State psychiatric facilities
April 28, 2008
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I’ve returned from a fascinating series of trips to two New York State psychiatric facilities (St. Lawrence Psychiatric and Pilgrim Psychiatric), as part of a project I’m working on with the Office of Mental Health. I learned a great deal from talking about suicide risk with over 500 clinicians from a variety of disciplines and [...]
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