Search

A rare study that transforms our understanding of why youth die by suicide, why youth suicide clusters happen, and how to stop them Youth suicide clusters have deeply unsettled communities in recent years. While clusters have been widely documented in the media, too little is known about why youth die by suicide, why youth suicide clusters happen, and how to stop them both. In Life under Pressure, Anna S. Mueller and Seth Abrutyn investigate the social roots of youth suicide and why certain places weather disproportionate incidents of adolescent suicides and suicide clusters. Through close examination of kids'lives in a community repeatedly rocked by youth suicide clusters, Mueller and Abrutyn reveal how the social worlds that youth inhabit and the various messages they learn in those spaces--about who they are supposed to be, mental illness, and help-seeking--shape their feelings about themselves and in turn their risk of suicide. With great empathy, Mueller and Abrutyn also identify the moments when adults unintentionally fail kids by not talking to them about suicide, teaching them how to seek help, or helping them grieve. Through stories of survival, resilience, and even rebellion, Mueller and Abrutyn show how social environments can cause suicide and how they can be changed to help kids discover a life worth living. By revealing what it is like to live and die in one community, Life under Pressure offers tangible solutions to one of the twenty-first century's most tragic public health problems.

Sharing our stories has the power to set us free. In The Power of Sharing, members of the i understand community, an organization dedicated to brain health and suicide prevention, open up about how mental illness has touched their lives. Challenging the stigma around mental health, over a dozen brave authors share their truth in these pages. Readers will find comfort and companionship in their stories of pain, difficult choices, betrayal, grief, and heartache. In the words of i understand founder Vonnie Woodrick, “Speak up. Speak out. Share your story with a brave and honest face, because when you do, you may never know the difference it can make in someone else's life—or better yet, your own.”

Moving from ALERT to Acceptance: Helping Clinicians Heal from Client Suicide covers suicide assessment and safety planning in measurable and empowering ways that takes away some of the fear of asking about suicide when working with clients of diverse backgrounds. Experience a modern, compassionate take on suicide assessment in this book through client stories, and explore how you can adopt the ALERT suicide assessment framework into your own client work. With a predicted quarter of mental health professionals, clinical supervisors, and therapists losing a client to suicide sometime in their career, this book also serves to explore this life-altering event, including an in-depth look at the personal and professional impact on clinicians through therapist stories, the mental health leadership and support needed to heal, and tools that encourage a purposeful transition from crippling anxiety and grief towards post-traumatic growth and meaning.

A deep dive into a national catastrophe that examines how and why suicide happens so that we can prevent itSuicide has reached epidemic proportions in America, claiming over 45,000 lives each year—more than car accidents or homicides. For every person who dies there are about 10 unsuccessful attempts. Yet suicides are preventable, if we can grasp the complex factors behind it and look out for suicide's signs in our families, communities, and colleagues. In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed journalist James Barrat delivers these insights with a deep dive into America's suicide crisis.With profiles of survivors and their families, and interviews with experts, Barrat assembles a thorough, nuanced portrait of this confounding killer. He examines suicide's many risk factors, including genetics, substance abuse, access to lethal means, and mental health. Importantly, he explores how societal issues like racial trauma, bullying, and financial stress – in combination with other factors - can push people to kill themselves. Barrat reveals the structural and chemical differences found in suicidal brains, providing biological insights.Facing Suicide celebrates solutions. Barrat shows how the US Air Force and the nation of Denmark lowered suicide rates with comprehensive ‘systems approaches'that enlist every member of society in impactful interventions. Importantly, Barrat finds that 100% of the people he interviewed who attempted suicide are happy they got help and are alive today. Their message is one of healing and hope. With deep reporting and keen insights, Facing Suicide sheds essential light on this painful, growing crises with actionable information about preventing suicides. Barrat's urgent book makes clear that understanding and preventing suicide must be a national priority. We all have a role to play in this vital effort.

The second edition of Half in Love with Death gives therapists new tools to help manage chronically suicidal patients. Clinicians will learn how to tolerate suicidality, understand the inner world of patients, avoid repeated hospitalizations, and focus on life situations that maintain suicidal ideas and behaviors. This new edition includes a number of major updates and a new chapter on the epidemiology of suicidality.Each chapter develops a theoretical perspective based on empirical data, and many are illustrated by clinical examples. Topics addressed throughout the text include: Distinctions among various types of suicidality The inner world of the chronically suicidal patient, with a particular focus on pain, emptiness, and hopelessness The relationship between chronic suicidality and personality disorders, especially the category of borderline personality The effectiveness of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for chronically suicidal patients The risks of litigation in managing this patient population This is a crucially important resource for clinicians who treat chronically suicidal patients, one that provides enlightened and evidence-based guidelines.

Although school mental health specialists already understand that suicide and self-injury among students represents a significant and growing concern, emerging data challenges traditional perceptions about suicide risk in schools. Students of all ages and grade levels are at risk, but certain groups of students are disproportionately affected. There are many causes for this increased risk, including the pandemic, racism, social unrest, sleep disturbances, higher rates of mental illness, loneliness, bullying, and increased screen time. School mental health specialists must meet this new reality by developing and leading a comprehensive approach where all staff, teachers, students, and parents have a role to play in saving lives. Suicide and Self Injury in Schools: Interventions for School Mental Health Specialists can be a vital tool for making suicide prevention a shared responsibility. Throughout the book, each time authors Darcy Haag Granello, Paul Granello, and Gerald Juhnke present a new concept, risk category, or application idea, it is immediately followed by a concrete, practical strategy. There are more than 120 of these research-backed strategies, all of which have been tested in practice. This book provides a research-informed, practical strategy for how schools can develop and implement a systemic and realistic school-wide approach. Readers will learn step-by-step approaches that will ultimately lead to the creation of a comprehensive school-wide suicide prevention program.

Comment définir le suicide? Quelle est l'ampleur du suicide? Quels sont les éléments déclencheurs du suicide? Quels sont les signes avant-coureurs? Comment intervenir auprès d'une personne suicidaire? Comment survivre au suicide d'un proche? Autant de questions que j'ai tenté de répondre dans ce guide. À partir de mes années de travail sur le terrain en intervention et en prévention du suicide, à partir de mon vécu personnel, ce guide est écrit avec simplicité pour que tout le monde puisse s'y retrouver et démystifier ce fléau social. Le guide d'intervention auprès de personnes suicidaires démystifie le suicide. Il permet d'aider les proches à reconnaître les signes avant-coureurs du suicide et de déterminer ce qui peut être fait pour soutenir la personne en crise. Une section du guide est réservée aux endeuillés par suicide.

Most people who die by suicide see a clinician prior to taking their lives. Therefore, one of the most difficult determinations clinicians must be able to make is whether any given patient is at risk for suicide in the immediate future. The Suicidal Crisis, Clinical Guide to the Assessment of Imminent Suicide Risk, is the first book written specifically to help clinicians evaluate the risk of such imminent suicidal behavior. The Suicidal Crisis is an essential work for every mental health professional and for anyone who would like to have a framework for understanding suicide. Written by master clinician Dr. Igor Galynker, the book presents methods for a systematic and comprehensive assessment of short-term suicide risk and for conducting risk assessment interviews in different settings. Dr. Galynker describes suicide as an attempt of a vulnerable individual to escape an unbearable life situation, which is perceived as both intolerable and inescapable. What sets the Suicidal Crisis apart from the other books of its kind is its sharp focus on those at the highest risk. It presents a wealth of clinical material within the easy-to-understand and intuitive framework of the Narrative-Crisis model of suicidal behavior. The book contains sixty individual case studies of actual suicidal individuals and their interviews, detailed instructions on how to conduct such interviews, and risk assessment test cases with answer keys. A unique feature of the book, not found in any other book on suicide, is a discussion of how clinicians'emotional responses to acutely suicidal individuals may help identify those at highest risk. In this timely and extensively updated edition Galynker provides a method for understanding the suicidal process, and of identifying those at the highest risk for taking their lives. Any clinician who works with suicidal individuals and anybody who knows someone who has considered suicide will find the book an essential and illuminating read.

FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • ONE OF TIME'S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF THE YEAR • ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S CRITICS'PICKS • ONE OF THE BOSTON GLOBE'S 55 BOOKS WE LOVED THIS YEAR • ONE OF KIRKUS'S BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE YEAR• An intimate, insightful, at times even humorous blend of memoir and philosophy that examines why the thought of death is so compulsive for some while demonstrating that there's always another solution—from the acclaimed writer and philosophy professor, based on his viral essay, “I'm Still Here.” “A deep meditation that searches through Martin's past looking for answers about why he is the way he is, while also examining the role suicide has played in our culture for centuries, how it has evolved, and how philosophers have examined it.” —Esquire “A rock for people who've been troubled by suicidal ideation, or have someone in their lives who is.” —The New York Times“If you're going to write a book about suicide, you have to be willing to say the true things, the scary things, the humiliating things. Because everybody who is being honest with themselves knows at least a little bit about the subject. If you lie or if you fudge, the reader will know.”The last time Clancy Martin tried to kill himself was in his basement with a dog leash. It was one of over ten attempts throughout the course of his life. But he didn't die, and like many who consider taking their own lives, he hid the attempt from his wife, family, coworkers, and students, slipping back into his daily life with a hoarse voice, a raw neck, and series of vague explanations.In How Not to Kill Yourself, Martin chronicles his multiple suicide attempts in an intimate depiction of the mindset of someone obsessed with self-destruction. He argues that, for the vast majority of suicides, an attempt does not just come out of the blue, nor is it merely a violent reaction to a particular crisis or failure, but is the culmination of a host of long-standing issues. He also looks at the thinking of a number of great writers who have attempted suicide and detailed their experiences (such as David Foster Wallace, Yiyun Li, Akutagawa, Nelly Arcan, and others), at what the history of philosophy has to say both for and against suicide, and at the experiences of those who have reached out to him across the years to share their own struggles.The result combines memoir with critical inquiry to powerfully give voice to what for many has long been incomprehensible, while showing those presently grappling with suicidal thoughts that they are not alone, and that the desire to kill oneself—like other self-destructive desires—is almost always temporary and avoidable.

For help in dealing with a suicidal crisis right now, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you love someone who has suicidal thoughts, you may struggle with profound fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. You desperately want to help, but you're unsure of where to start. This book can guide you as you support your loved one—without sacrificing your own needs and well-being. You'll find the answers to some of your most urgent questions, including: What are signs and clues of suicide risk? How do I talk with my loved one about their suicidal thoughts? When should I call the police? What do I say and do after a suicide attempt? What treatments for suicidality are available? How can I help the person I care about stay safe? What can I do to help them feel better, too? What can I do to cope better? What does recovery look like after a suicidal crisis? Written by a psychotherapist and expert in suicidology, this compassionate guide offers essential communication techniques you can use to help your loved one, as well as strategies for navigating your own stress, worry, fear, and anxiety. Drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindful self-compassion, the tools in this book will help you recognize warning signs, improve communication, create a safety plan, know when to seek professional help, and support a loved one in crisis.

Now in an extensively revised third edition with 65% new material, this is the authoritative presentation of the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) therapeutic framework. CAMS provides proven tools to help clinicians of any orientation evaluate suicidal risk and develop a suicide-focused treatment plan. In addition to their clinical utility, the procedures used for assessment, stabilization, and treatment of suicidal risk within CAMS can help reduce the risk of malpractice liability. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes the latest version of the Suicide Status Form (SSF-5) plus other valuable reproducible tools, which can be downloaded and printed for repeated use. For CAMS training opportunities offered by David A. Jobes, visit https://cams-care.com. New to This Edition •Major updates based on ongoing clinical research, including tools and adaptations for additional populations and settings. •Increased focus on implementation with adolescents, with a new extended case example. •Vital guidance for effectively using CAMS via telehealth. •Additional reproducible forms to photocopy or download, including a fillable PDF of the Suicide Status Form, optimized for electronic medical records.

Discovering that suicide and self-harm are part of your teen's reality can set off a whirlwind of panic. Gain hope with this guide featuring 11 conversation starters to ease you into this sensitive topic and help you understand your child's situation. Plus, uncover why these devastating incidents are on the rise, how to prevent them, and how to offer faith-based encouragement.

Suicide is a growing tragedy in the US and in the church. We can stop the climbing numbers of suicide deaths, but it is going to take everyone working together, including the church. Without the church, suicidal people may not hear the life-affirming messages they need to hear. Without an informed church, people who have lost loved ones to suicide may leave the church. Too often, the church watches from the sidelines not knowing what to do. Why is it that the wider (secular) culture is more engaged in suicide prevention than God's people, especially given that Christians care deeply about the sanctity of life? The apostle Paul modeled suicide prevention for the church when he stopped the suicide of the Philippian jailer. But pastors and congregants may not know how to follow his example. The result is that people who struggle with suicide or who have lost loved ones to suicide wonder if the Bible or their church have anything relevant to say about suicide. This book will provide the resources needed to help prevent suicide in a church, even when a church does not want to start one more program.

In many countries of the world the number of persons that commit or attempt suicide has risen considerably over the past two decades. Particularly among young people suicide rates have increased dramatically, suicide now ranking as the second or third cause of death among them.The causes of this development have been questioned by health care workers, scientists and policy makers. Although much still remains unknown, it has become increasingly clear that one way in which a society affects the probability that an individual will die by his or her own hand is through the attitudes it adopts towards suicide.Modern society confronts people more and more often with attitudes and models, such as in the mass media, that express a permissive stance towards voluntary death in a variety of circumstances. Evidence suggest that imitation might indeed play a significant role in the frequency of suicide.A related aspect is the attitudes care givers entertain themselves towards suicide. This affects both the way in which they approach and treat individuals in suicidal crisis as well as the readiness of these individuals to look for professional help.The present volume presents an overview of important recent work on the influences of societal and care givers'attitudes on suicide as well provoking premature suicidal deaths.

In Schizophrenia and Suicide: Finding Hope, Meaning, and Direction, the author shares how, as a person with schizophrenia, the thought of suicide, for her, and also for others with this disease, can be a constant threat to their well-being. In this book she explores the topic of survival for people who have a mental illness, for whom self-destruction through suicide is all too common in the age of medicines, psychotherapies, and peer counselling. In addition, what role do faith communities play in counteracting this affliction and what are the responsibilities of the mentally ill, themselves, in choosing life over death by finding real meaning for their lives?

Indigenous communities experience higher risks for suicide compared to the general U.S. population, with suicide as the second-leading cause of death among Indigenous children and young adults in North America. To reduce this trend, it is essential for prevention and intervention efforts to build on scientific evidence; cultural and local knowledge; and the best community, family, and institutional practices to reduce risk and increase protection. The Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders and the Forum for Children's Well-Being at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a three-part virtual public workshop on April 26, 2022, May 13, 2022, and June 10, 2022, to examine suicide risk and protective factors in Indigenous populations, discuss culturally appropriate and effective suicide prevention policies and programs, explore existing data systems and how data can be used for tracking suicide rates, and consider opportunities for action. This Proceedings highlights presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Coping Long-Term with Active Suicide Program (CLASP): Clinician Guide is an indispensable resource for clinicians, researchers and mental health practitioners who are interested in implementing a cost-effective and proven suicide prevention intervention, with the newly developed'Coping Long Term with Active Suicide Program'(CLASP). With a foundation grounded in theoretical models of suicide prevention, as well as in the relevant empirical literature, CLASP is unique among suicide prevention interventions in that it targets multiple risk factors for suicide using a combination of formats and therapeutic strategies. The treatment can be delivered in-person and/or via telehealth to focus on values-goals clarification, problem solving, and significant other support. This book introduces the rationale and empirical support for the CLASP intervention, followed by a session-by-session description of how to implement CLASP in clinical practice and with specific targeted populations at risk.

Comment comprendre un geste suicidaire? Est-il possible de déceler des signes précurseurs pour empêcher un passage à l'acte? Quelle attitude adopter dans ce cas? Peut-on aborder directement le sujet du suicide avec la personne concernée? Sur quelles ressources s'appuyer? Que l'on soit professionnel du soin et du social ou non-professionnel, de nombreuses questions se posent lorsqu'on est confronté à une personne qui semble penser au suicide. L'auteur y répond dans ces pages en illustrant son propos d'histoires cliniques. Il explique le concept de crise suicidaire, dresse la liste des éléments qui doivent alerter et indique de quelle façon intervenir en première intention. Un livre pour tous ceux qui souhaitent contribuer à la prévention du suicide.

A young woman is abandoned by her boyfriend, an older man retires and feels worthless and lonely, a young man learns that his wife is having an extramarital affair. They all see suicide as the only solution.Usually, after a suicide attempt, people are treated in a hospital, where professionals try to work out the underlying psychiatric illness. Ladislav Valach and Annette Reissfelder, however, argue that suicide is not an illness but an action. Since this understanding is based on a high regard for everyday accounts of one's own experiences, the suicidal persons are given the stage in this book.The textbook presents twelve different cases after a suicide attempt. In the analysis of the conversations, attention is paid to the theory of action in everyday life. By presenting the long-term, medium-term and short-term concerns of the patients or the actions in the stories, practitioners gain a detailed insight into the underlying causes of the suicidal act and its treatment.

This open access book focuses on the public health crisis of youth suicide and provides a review of current research and prevention practices. It addresses important topics, including suicide epidemiology, suicide risk detection in school and medical settings, critical cultural considerations, and approaches to lethal means safety. This book offers cutting-edge research on emerging discoveries in the neurobiology of suicide, psychopharmacology, and machine learning. It focuses on upstream suicide prevention research methods and details how cost-effective approaches can mitigate youth suicide risk when implemented at a universal level. Chapters discuss critical areas for future research, including how to evaluate the effectiveness of suicide prevention and intervention efforts, increase access to mental health care, and overcome systemic barriers that undermine generalizability of prevention strategies. Finally, this book highlights what is currently working well in youth suicide prevention and, just as important, which areas require more attention and support. Key topics include: The neurobiology of suicide in at-risk children and adolescents.The role of machine learning in youth suicide prevention.Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention in schools.Suicide risk screening and assessment in medical settings.Culturally informed risk assessment and suicide prevention efforts with minority youth.School mental health partnerships and telehealth models of care in rural communities.Suicide and self-harm prevention and interventions for LGBTQ+ youth.Risk factors associated with suicidal behavior in Black youth.Preventing suicide in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Youth Suicide Prevention and Intervention is a must-have resource for policy makers and related professionals,graduate students, and researchers in child and school psychology, family studies, public health, social work, law/criminal justice, sociology, and all related disciplines.

The persistent trends in suicide necessitate action among mental health care providers and payers, researchers, and community leaders. Health care settings provide an important opportunity for suicide intervention and prevention, but they cannot yet fully manage suicide risk because of a lack of training, knowledge gaps, and reimbursement challenges. School, workplace, and community-based interventions can help reduce the incidence of suicidal behavior, as can better access to care and reduced access to lethal means of suicide. To better understand the strategies to improve access to effective interventions to prevent suicide, the Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a two-part virtual public workshop, Strategies and Interventions to Reduce Suicide, on June 22, 2021, and July 28, 2021. The first webinar examined the scope of the public health problem, discussed implementation of effective approaches for suicide prevention care, and addressed known barriers to health care access. The second webinar focused on building 9-8-8, the new nationwide emergency number designated to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Participants discussed current crisis systems, gaps, challenges, and needs for marginalized populations. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes the presentations and discussions that occurred during the workshops.

This book argues that suicidal people have the right to receive treatment and for reasonable steps to be taken that they are protected from killing themselves. Those suffering threats to life from mental health issues deserve the same protection as those who face threats to life from ill health or violence from others. The book explores the ethical and legal case for giving those beset with suicidal thoughts the treatment they need and for reasonable steps to be taken to prevent them attempting suicide.Debates around suicide tend to be dominated by cases involving those with terminal medical conditions seeking assisted dying. But of those wishing to die, it is far more common to find middle aged men and young people oppressed by mental health and personal problems. Too often the woeful failure in the funding of mental health services in the UK means that suicidal people are denied the support and help they desperately need. This ground-breaking book makes the legal and ethical case for recognising that the state and public authorities have a duty to provide and implement an effective suicide prevention strategy.

To raise awareness of all members of the community - children, parents and school staff about the harm that bullying causes and how children & young people can be protected, including solutions to the problem of rising incidents of bullying and cyber bullying in connection with the use of social networks. This book will improve strategies and responses to incidences of bullying that will address the causes and effects of bullying and help avoid any recurrence. This book will provide assistance for the empowerment of all Administrators, school staff and parents as change agents in reducing bullying and in the education of children and young people in peer led strategies. Further cooperation between schools, local school administration and other outside agencies in the reduction of bullying.

This book explores suicide prevention perspectives from around the world, considering both professionals'points of view as well as first-person accounts from suicidal individuals. Scholars around the globe have puzzled over what makes a person suicidal and what is in the minds of those individuals who die by suicide. Most often the focus is not on the motives for suicide, nor on the phenomenology of this act, but on what is found from small cohorts of suicidal individuals. This book offers a tentative synthesis of a complex phenomenon, and sheds some light on models of suicide that are less frequently encountered in the literature. Written by international experts, it makes a valuable contribution to the field of suicidology that appeals to a wide readership, from mental health professionals to researchers in suicidology and students.