This book offers mental health clinicians a comprehensive guide to assessing and managing suicide risk. Suicide has now come to be understood as a multidimensionally determined outcome, which stems from the complex interaction of biological, genetic, psychological, sociological and environmental factors. Based on recent evidence and an extensive literature review, the book provides straightforward, essential information that can easily be applied in a wide variety of disciplines.

This highly practical book explains how to identify and manage suicidal individuals and supports the health professional in assisting the patient to choose life rather than death.

Patient suicide is an unavoidable occupational hazard of psychiatric practice. Indeed, it is the rare clinician who does not struggle, even agonize, over the complex task of assessing and managing the risk of suicide in patients. Patient suicides account for the greatest number of malpractice suits filed against psychiatrists and for the greatest number of settlements and verdicts covered by professional liability insurers. In this book, written by a clinician for clinicians, Dr. Simon, an established expert in psychiatry and law, offers A solid, easy-to-understand review of how medical malpractice law applies to patient suicides. He discusses the standards of care physicians must meet, the conditions associated with malpractice liability, and how best to minimize risks of litigation. Extensive references to peer-reviewed literature on suicide and recent malpractice cases, including those triggered by patient suicides, which give insight into the latest developments in both the scientific community and the courts. Much-needed practical advice, including advice on working with suicide risk assessments and suicide prevention contracts, on treating suicidal patients in various settings (outpatient, inpatient, collaborative, and emergency), and on coping with issues arising in the aftermath of a patient's suicide (documentation, confidentiality, and survivor care). Clearly defined risk management guidelines that will help clinicians avoid litigation or establish a sound legal defense if sued for malpractice. Numerous case examples that make the theoretical discussions and clinically based risk management guidelines that follow come alive. Rich in advice that draws on the author's more than 40 years of clinical experience, this book serves as an essential aid to clinicians.

Today's psychiatrists practice in an environment that poses difficult challenges. Both treatment time and duration are limited by insurance requirements; many facilities are understaffed; split treatment arrangements are typical; and high-risk, acutely suicidal patients are admitted to inpatient units for short lengths of stay. In addition, law now plays a pervasive role in the practice of psychiatry. The doctor-patient relationship is no longer defined solely by the involved parties. Clinicians must juggle these requirements and limitations while providing the very best care to their patients, especially those at high risk. Preventing Patient Suicide: Clinical Assessment and Management provides the wisdom of Dr. Robert I. Simon's vast clinical experience, combined with the latest insights from the evidence-based psychiatric literature, to offer a cutting-edge survey of suicide prevention and management techniques. The author: Addresses sudden improvement in high-risk suicidal patients, a phenomenon both common and perilous, with techniques for determining whether the improvement is real or feigned. Explores in depth the misuse of suicide risk assessment forms, with emphasis on their inherent limitations. Examines the many entrenched myths and traditions about suicide, exposing them to the critical light of evidence-based medicine, including the concept of "imminent suicide risk" and the myth of "passive suicide ideation". Discusses the continuum of chronic and acute high-risk suicidal patients, the fluidity with which one can become the other, and the difficulty in assessing these patients. Explores how the law and psychiatry interact in frequently occurring clinical situations, and the importance of therapeutic risk management. In addition, the book contains a variety of features that illuminate the subject and enhance the reader's understanding, including: Inclusion of illustrative case studies, combined with commentary on commonly occurring but complex clinical situations. Key points at the end of each chapter that identify critical information. A Suicide Risk Assessment Self-Test, a teaching instrument that consists of fifty questions designed to enhance clinician suicide risk assessment by incorporating evidence-based risk and protective factors. Dr. Simon provides a nuanced, empathic, yet pragmatic perspective on identifying, assessing, and managing the suicidal patient while successfully navigating a complex legal and clinical environment that poses its own risks to the practitioner.

Meeting a vital need, this book helps clinicians rapidly identify risks for suicidal behavior and manage an at-risk teen's ongoing care. It provides clear guidelines for conducting suicide risk screenings and comprehensive risk assessments and implementing immediate safety-focused interventions, as well as longer-term treatment plans. Designed for day-to-day use in private practice, schools, or other settings, the volume is grounded in a strong evidence base. It features quick-reference clinical pointers, sample dialogues with teens and parents, and reproducible assessment and documentation tools. Most of the reproducible materials can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. Winner (First Place)--American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award, Child Health Category

Originally published by J. Wiley in 1999.

"The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) approach has garnered a strong evidence base and has been implemented by therapists from a range of orientations in diverse clinical settings. This extensively revised manual provides a proven therapeutic framework for evaluating suicidal risk and developing and implementing a suicide-specific treatment plan that is respectful, empathic, and empowering. In addition to their clinical utility, the procedures used for assessment, treatment, and progress monitoring within CAMS can help reduce the risk of malpractice liability. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the book includes all needed reproducible tools for implementing CAMS. Purchasers also get access to a webpage where they can download and print the reproducible materials"--

The Suicidal Crisis has everything clinicians need to evaluate the risk of imminent suicide. What sets it apart is its clinical focus on those at the highest risk--the book includes individual case studies of acutely suicidal individuals, detailed instructions on how to conduct risk assessments, test cases with answer keys, and empirically validated Suicidal Crisis risk assessment scales.

Providing clinically useful information for mental health professionals encountering patients at risk, The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Suicide Assessment and Management calls on the authority of 40 expert contributors reflecting a wide range of clinical and forensic experience.

Current and comprehensive information concerning the assessment and treatment of suicidal persons and the prevention of suicidal behavior The eighth leading cause of death in the United States and the second leading cause among U.S. teens, suicide is unique in being self-inflicted and is, as such, often preventable. By assessing the risk of suicide accurately, providing effective treatment according to this risk, and implementing strategies against suicidal urges, mental health professionals can successfully guide their clients away from this senseless taking of life. Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Suicidal Behavior provides the most current and comprehensive source of information, guidelines, and case studies for working with clients at risk of suicide. It offers clinicians, counselors, and other mental health professionals a practical toolbox on three main areas of interest: Screening and Assessment covers empirically based assessment techniques and how they can define dimensions of vulnerability and measure the risk of self-destructive behavior. Authors discuss research on the use of each screening instrument, guidelines and suggestions for using the instrument in practice, and a case study illustrating its application. Intervention and Treatment compares several different approaches for structuring psychotherapy with suicidal clients. Each author covers a psychotherapy system, its application to suicidal clients, and a case study of its real-world use. Suicide and Violence explores the relationship between suicidal individuals and violence, covering suicide in specific contexts such as school violence, police confrontations, and terrorist violence. This section also includes a discussion of the increased risk of suicide in our more insecure and violent world, as well as how topromote coping styles for these new anxieties. While addressed mainly to psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals for use in serving their clients, as well as students of psychology, Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention of Suicidal Behavior is also an accessible and valuable resource for educators, school counselors, and others in related fields.