Predicting Suicide: Difficulties for Treatment Professionals

• By: Virginia L. Susman, MD NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Division
• July 1st, 2012
• 809    0

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...

The NYSPA Report: A Response to the NYS OMH Report on Inpatient Suicide

• By: Barry B. Perlman, MD Virginia L. Susman, MD
• July 1st, 2010
• 923    0

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...