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From the Publisher – Surviving Suicide: All Things Must Pass
We all walk a very thin line in our lives—a line of normal feelings and behavior. At any moment we might fall off that line and descend into the darkness of mental illness. For people with mental illness, their families and loved ones, this concept is well known. Brain chemistry, genetics, or...
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Predicting Suicide: Difficulties for Treatment Professionals
A widely quoted clinical aphorism is that there are two kinds of therapists: those who have experienced the loss of a patient to suicide, and those who haven’t yet. Although the expression sounds a bit nihilistic, this adage conveys a warning to those clinicians who have not experienced a...
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Suicide: More Common Than You Think, More Preventable Than You Know
Just how common is suicide you may ask? According to the latest available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: In 2007, there were 34,598 reported suicide deaths in the U.S. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24-year-olds, and this age group accounts for...
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Suicide Attempts and the Family
As an EAP (Employee Assistance Professional) Counselor, one of the most difficult situations is calls from people whose loved one is suicidal. In this article “family” is construed as people who are involved and concerned. Dealing with a loved one who is suicidal is one of the greatest...
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Saving Real Lives in Virtual Space: Innovative Suicide Prevention Solutions
The Facebook safety team sees messages like the following every day: “I’m going to kill myself this is my last post ever ill will miss u all…” 1 Since there are more than 37,000 deaths by suicide every year,2 and more than 50% of Americans have a Facebook profile,3 it’s not surprising...
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Teen Suicide in Nassau County New York: Lifesaving Resources
The Nassau County Child Fatality Review Team (NCCFRT) is a multidisciplinary team that has functioned as a NYS approved child fatality review team as provided in Social Services Law (SSL) §422-b working under the supervision of the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) since December 2008....
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The NYSPA Report: Families of Suicided Soldiers to Get Letter of Condolence from President
During July of this year, President Obama announced that he would begin sending letters of condolence to the families of troops who kill themselves in combat zones. He noted that this was a decision that was made after a difficult and exhaustive review of the former policy and he added, “I did...
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Clinicians and Suicide Loss
For mental health professionals, the loss of a client to suicide is surprisingly common, if not an unfortunate occupational hazard. Studies show that one in five psychologists and counselors (Bersoff, 1999; McIntosh, 2000, McAdams and Foster, 2000) and one in two psychiatrists (Ruskin, 2004;...
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The NYSPA Report: A Response to the NYS OMH Report on Inpatient Suicide
The poet A. Alvarez titled his book about suicide, “The Savage God” to evoke its lure and horror for its victims and their families. Suicide is one of the most upsetting paths to death for all touched by it. It has been the subject of much study, aiming to understand what drives it and how to...
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Black Teens, Especially Girls, at High Risk for Suicide Attempts
Black American teens, especially females, may be at high risk for attempting suicide even if they have never been diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to researchers funded in part by NIMH. Their findings, based on responses from adolescent participants in the National Survey of American...
