Resources For Suicide Prevention

Compiled by Canada's leading experts on suicide, this collection provides long-awaited information that focuses specifically on Canada.

This study presents an evaluation of the past, present and future of suicidal behaviour and efforts to prevent or facilitate suicide. Authors from the varying disciplines of psychology, sociology and psychiatry analyze suicide in the opening chapters. Through the exploration of the roles of these disciplines, the roles of primary physicians, and the impact of suicide prevention education in schools, the contributors describe the history of suicidology and the changes necessary for improvement. The book concludes with a section detailing the goals and activities of organizations designed to prevent or facilitate suicide.

Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.

This volume is a guide for the hospital workforce related to suicide prevention. Written by experts in the field, this text is the only one that also includes the revised DSM-5 guidelines. It is also the first to cover both prevention in one concise guide, offering a well-rounded approach to long- and short-term prevention. The book begins by establishing the neurobiology of suicide before discussing the populations at risk for suicide and the various environments where they may present. The book addresses the epidemiology, including groups at heightened risk; etiology, including several types of risk factors; prevention, including large-scale community-based activities; and postvention, including the few evidence-based approaches that are currently available. Unlike any other text on the market, this book does not simply focus on one particular demographic; rather, the book covers a wide range of populations and concerns, including suicide in youths, racial minorities, patients suffering from serious mental and physical illnesses, psychopharmacological treatment in special populations, and a wide array of challenging scenarios that are often not addressed in the very few up-to-date resources available. Suicide Prevention is an outstanding resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, hospitalists, primary care doctors, nurses, social workers, and all medical professionals who may interface with suicidal patients.

The carefully selected chapters in this volume provide food for thought to practitioners, researchers, students and all those who come into contact with the tragedy of suicide, with the hope of stimulating new ideas and interventions in the difficult fight against suicidal behaviours. This is the second book based on the Intuition, Imagination and Innovation – TRIPLE i in Suicidology international conferences, which are organised annually by the Slovene Center for Suicide Research in memory of the late Prof. Andrej Marušic with the aim of promoting intuition, imagination and innovation in the research and prevention of suicide and suicidal behaviour. In five parts, the internationally renowned team of authors summarises the research looking at: •Understanding individuals (assessing risk in older adults and psychotherapy with suicidal patients), •Understanding the groups at risk of suicide (including youth, people in prison, men, and people with mood disorders), •Understanding the role of community (including the Papageno effect, technology-based and collaborative approaches to prevention, as well as bereavement), •Models of understanding suicide (including the integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour and the hot air balloon model of risk factors for suicide), and •Understanding the unique ethical and methodological issues associated with research in this field.

Argues that schools have a much larger role to play in the prevention of suicide among children and adolescents than they have generally undertaken hitherto. Sets out various ways in which teachers can detect suicidal tendencies and make appropriate interventions.

Describes the rationale and evidence for the effectiveness of various youth suicide prevention strategies. Identifies model programs that incorporate these different strategies. For use by persons who are interested in developing or augmenting suicide prevention programs in their own communities.